


RESOU 



OF THE 



STATES. 



■ 



BY 



J. HARRIS PATTON. 



*.*** 




Oass_ 

BookP.34 



GIFT OF HEIRS OF 
DR. LOUIS R. KLEMM 



it 



. r 



THE 



NATURAL RESOURCES 



OF THE 



UNITED STATES. 



BY 

J. HARRIS PATTON, M. A., 

n 
Author of the " Concise History of the American People? 



NEW YORK: 

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 

i, 3, and 5 BOND STREET. 

1885. 



v\c> 



03 



COPYRIGHT BY 

D. APPLETON & COMPANY, 
1879. 



is R. Klemm 
Bequest 
Feb, 1926 



PREFACE. 



This Primer is designed to give the people of 
the United States a concise account of the Re- 
sources that Nature has bestowed upon their own 
land. These include coal and metals of various 
kinds ; a fertile soil, which a copious rainfall and 
a favorable climate render capable of producing 
abundant crops ; means of promoting domestic 
trade by navigable rivers ; and an extensive coast- 
line, with fine harbors to facilitate commerce with 
foreign lands. 

It is not surprising that so many Americans of 
the intelligent class seem to be unaware of the im- 
mensity of these Resources, as their attention has 
not been directed to them in their manifold forms. 

From the nature of the subjects treated of, the 
information given becomes of interest to every citi- 
zen, and is not intended for one class of persons 
only — such as students who are about to finish their 
school or college education. Such being the case, 
care has been taken to combine two objects : the 
one that, if required, this Primer can be used as a 
class-book, and for that reason questions for the 
pupils' use have been added; the other, to con- 



PREFACE. 



struct the work in a form suited also to the general 
reader, and to avoid as much as possible the usual 
formality of the mere text-book. 

It is hoped the information here given will be 
specially valuable to American youth who are 
about to enter upon the active duties of life, as 
well as to those already thus engaged. In order 
to appreciate his own country properly, the citizen 
should be familiar with all the advantages it may 
possess. 

The following works, among many others, have 
been consulted : Blodget, " Climatology " ; Profes- 
sor M. F. Maury, " Physical Geography of the 
Sea " ; Professor A. Guyot, " Physical Geography " ; 
Daddow and Bannan, " Coal, Iron, and Oil " ; James 
Macfarlane, " Coal Regions of America " ; Profes- 
sor J. Le Conte, " Geology " ; Professor Whitney, 
" Metals of the United States " ; " The American 
Cyclopaedia " ; and P. L. Simmonds, " Commercial 
Products of the Sea." 

J. H. P. 

New York, March, 1879. 



CONTENTS. 



SECTS. PAGE 

North America, View of — Desirable Position 

of the United States i, 2 1 

Coast-Line of Europe compared with that of 

the United States — The Result . . 3 — 6 2 

Coal: 

I. Origin — Pressure — Remains of Plants, 
the Identification — At first bituminous 

—Strata 7—12 4 

II. Extent of Coal — Comparison with that of 
other Countries — Coal-Measures — The 

Dip — Facility in Mining 13 — 17 9 

III. The Classification — The Monopoly — 
Richness — Attritions — AnthraciteField 
— Basins — Anthracite elsewhere found 
— Semi-bituminous ....... 18 — 24 12 

Bituminous Coal-Field : 

I. Coal-field of Virginia — Natural Coke — 
Coal of North Carolina — Nearness of 
Ore-beds and Coal — Location of Alle- 
ghany Coal-fields — Rivers and Val- 
leys 25 — 29 16 

II. Pittsburg Seam — The Monongahela Hills 
— Sir Charles Lyell's Statement — Con- 
nellsville Coke — Varieties of Coal — As- 
phaltum — Block and Cannel Coal . . 30 — 35 20 
Hi. Coal-fields of Kentucky and Tennessee — 
Red Mountain — Illinois Coal — Block- 
Coal of Indiana — Ores and Furnaces — 
Coal-field of Iowa 36 — 43 23 



CONTENTS, 



SECTS. PAGE 

IV. Coal-fields of Missouri — SingularCoal De- 
posits — Michigan Field — Kansas Field 
— Limestone — Arkansas Coal — Semi- 
bituminous — Texas Coal-Measures . . 44 — 48 27 

Lignite : 

I. The Transition — Ingredients of Lignite 
— Beds of Charred Wood — Area of Coal 

on the Pacific Slope . 49 — 53 31 

II. Mount Diablo Mines — Coal of Oregon — 
Seattle and Bellingham Bay Mines — 
The Flora — Region underlaid . . . 54 — 57 31 

Coal of the Dominion : 

Nova Scotia Mines — Coal in British Co- 
lumbia — Lignite Fields in Northwest- 
ern Ontario 58, 59 33 

, Iron-Ores : 

I. Iron — Its Importance — Found in New 
England, New York, and New Jersey 
— Pennsylvania rich in Mineral Wealth 
— The Stretch of Iron-ores — Rich Ores 

of Virginia . Co — 68 34 

II. Black Oxide — Red Mountain Ore — The 
Alleghanies compared with other 
Mountains — The Change from Iron to 
Steel — Iron Mountains — Lake Supe- 
rior Ore — Masses of Iron in Colorado. 69 — 74 37 

Gold and Silver : 

I. Gold-fields of the Union — Those of Cali- 
fornia — Mines and Modes of Mining — 
Gold-field of Idaho—Of Colorado— 

Leadville 75 — 79 40 

II. Gold in the Black Hills and Territories 
— Comstock Lode — The Sutro Tunnel 
— Area of Gold and Silver Fields — 
Minor Metals 80 — 85 43 



CONTENTS. 



SECTS. PAGE 

Petroleum : 

How accounted for^-Theories and Proofs 
— Classification of Oils — The Location 
of Oil Districts— Their Area .... 86—89 47 

Lead and Copper : 

Lead-fields in the East and in the Great 
Valley — Copper in North Carolina — 
Around Lake Superior — Isle Royale . 90 — 92 50 

Mercury or Quicksilver : 

New Almaden — The Cinnabar prepared 
—The Metal extracted 93, 94 53 

Graphite or Plumbago : 

Places where found — Ticonderoga. New 
York— The Two Kinds— Their Uses 
— The Cedars of Florida ..... 95, 96 54 

Slate and Building-Stones : 

Slate is found in Three States — Its Uses 
— Granite — Sandstone and Marble — 
Where found, and their Several Uses . 97 — 102 56 

Gypsum, Whetstones, Kaolin, Salt : 

Gypsum found in Michigan and Arkansas 
— Kaolin in North Carolina — Salt at 
Syracuse, New York, in Michigan, and 
in West Virginia 103, 104 60 

Marl and Phosphates : 

Marl a Fertilizer — PhosphateRock — Area 
— Animal Remains 105, 106 62 

Mineral Springs: 

Springs of New England — New York 
State Sulphur Springs — Sarotoga 
Springs — Their Peculiarities — Sulphur 
and Alum Springs of the Virginias — 
Hot Springs of Arkansas 107 — 109 63 



CONTENTS. 



SECTS. PAGE 

Health Resorts : 

I. Their Utility — Aiken, South Carolina, 
the Healthy Climate — Asheville, North 
Carolina — Florida — Accessibility — 
Balmy Air — Equable Climate. . . . no, III 65 
h II. Minnesota, Cool Atmosphere and Bright 
Skies — Colorado, Sunshine and Alti- 
tude — Winter mild — Southern Califor- 
nia a Sanitarium — Santa Barbara — 

Temperature equable 112 — 114 67 

Soil and Rainfall : 

I. Rich Soil — Its Available Value — Abun- 
dant Rain — Average Rainfall in the 
Mississippi Valley — On the Atlantic 
Slope — A Land of Pure Springs and 

Crystal Brooks 115 — 120 69 

II. A Current and Evaporation — Effect on 
the Great Valley — Buffalo - Grass — 
Change of Climate — Irrigation — The 
Advantages derived from Two Oceans. 121 — 124 72 
Climate : 

The Climate of the Atlantic Slope and 
that of the Great Valley — The Climate 
of the Northwest — Its Effect — Climate 
of the Pacific Slope — Comparisons of 
Average Temperatures ...... 125 — 127 75 

Products of the Soil: 

I. Extent of the Wheat Belt— Indian Corn 
— Cotton Monopoly — Rice — Sugar — 
Tobacco — Minor Grains and Vege- 
tables 128 — 132 78 

II. Grasses, Native and Cultivated — Dairy 
Products — Cattle and Flocks of Sheep 
— Other Animals — Maize utilized . . 133 — 135 80 
Fruits : 

I. Apple Belt — The Peach — Minor Fruits 
— The Vine — Florida, its Oranges and 



CONTENTS. 



Other Fruits — Fruits of Virginia and 

Delaware — The Markets 136—139 82 

II. California — Oranges — Olives — The Wal- 
nut — The Vine — The Sugar-beet — Fu- 
ture Improvement in Fruit .... 140 — 142 S6 

Forests : 

Timber of Maine — White Mountains — 
Along the Alleghanies — Pine-Forests — 
Timber of Oregon and Washington 
Territory 143— 145 87 

Resources of Fresh Waters and of the 
Sea: 

Ice, its Utility — The Storehouse of Food 
— The Fishing Localities — The Indus- 
try — The Menhaden and Shad — Fish- 
Culture i_;6— 151 89 

Oysters : 

Chesapeake Bay — Its Oysters, how and 
where planted, canned, and pickled — 
The Trade of Norfolk and Baltimore 
— Clams and Lobsters — Fisheries in 
Puget Sound, off the Straits of Fuca 
— Around Alaska 1*2 — 155 93 

Salmon : 

In the Columbia — Canning Salmon at 
Astoria — The Great Demand — The 
Vast Amount put up — Salmon in the 
Yukon 156 — 158 97 

Fur-bearing Seals and Wild Game: 

Seals on the PrybilofT Islands — The Num- 
ber taken — Their Preservation — Wild 
Game of the Chesapeake — Their Num- 
bers — Trade in — Their Migrations. . 159 — 161 99 



CONTENTS. 



SECTS. PAGB 

Homestead Law and Timber Act: 

The Provisions of the Law — Timber-Cul- 
ture Act — Its Provisions — Preemption 
Law — The Results — Area and Popu- 
lation — Railway Grants — The Main 
Roads — Homes by Purchase — Charac- 
ter of the Population — The Welcome 
— The Good Intent — The Caution . . 162 — 172 102 



PRIMER 



OF THE 



NATURAL RESOURCES OF THE 
UNITED STATES. 



i. If a spectator were stationed sufficiently high 
in the atmosphere directly over the Isthmus of 
Darien, and looked toward the north, east of north, 
and northwest, the great expanse of North America 
would appear to him in shape somewhat like an 
expanded fan ; he himself being directly over the 
handle, while the widest portion of the fan would 
extend from the eastern point of Labrador to the 
western point of Alaska. He would see, in a north- 
easterly direction, and almost parallel to the Atlan- 
tic coast, the Alleghany range of mountains, which, 
taking their rise from the lowlands running back 
from the north shore of the Gulf of Mexico, extend in 
that direction, apparently throwing out and forward 
spurs, such as the Catskills and the Adirondacks, 
until these highlands jut out on the St. Lawrence 
in Canada. To the east of this northern portion 
he would see the subordinate range of the Green 
Mountains, and still farther to the northeast comes 



NATURAL RESOURCES 



within his view a group of isolated mountains, tossed 
in a bunch, without apparent connection with the 
others ; these are the White Mountains of New 
Hampshire ; they loom up higher than their neigh- 
bors. 

Almost directly north he would see the great 
valley of the Mississippi, and, away over the divide 
of highland, down to the Arctic Ocean and Hud- 
son's Bay. To the northwest would come within 
his view three ranges of mountains: the eastern, 
the Rocky — the backbone of the continent — run- 
ning almost parallel with the Pacific coast, but 
much farther from it than the Alleghanies from the 
Atlantic, and much higher in their altitude. This 
range juts out on the Arctic Ocean. Parallel to 
this main range and west of it is another, the Sier- 
ra Nevada, in its northern portion known as the 
Cascades. Between these two ranges lies the Great 
Basin, having Salt Lake as its principal reservoir 
of water, but without an outlet. On the west 
side of the latter comes another series of moun- 
tains, known as the Coast Range, much lower in 
their altitude, but nearer the ocean and parallel 
with it. 

2. Directly across this continent, from ocean to 
ocean and through its middle portion, the most de- 
sirable as to climate and soil, is the belt of territory 
occupied by the people of the United States. 

■I 

COAST-LINE. 

3. The length of the coast-line of North Amer- 
ica, including indentations of gulfs, bays, and inlets, 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 



is given by Professor Guyot at 27,700 miles, and by 
Professor Grove at 24,500 (Primer, Geog., p. 61). 
Europe, by the latter authority, has 19,500 miles of 
seacoast, of which 3,000 are within the arctic cir- 
cle, or extreme north, and of little use for com- 
merce, leaving available only 16,500 miles. As the 
total area of Europe is 3,700,000 square miles, this 
would give for each mile of coast about 224 square 
miles of surface. Europe is by far the most fa- 
vored in this respect of any division of the Old 
World. 

4. Available Coast-Line. — As we treat in this 
11 Primer " only of the United States, we may take 
the coast-line, all of which is available, from the east 
border of Maine on the Atlantic to the mouth of 
the Rio Grande on the Gulf of Mexico, and from 
San Diego Bay to the Straits of Fuca on the Pacific 
— on both oceans including, as is usual, the indenta- 
tions, such as bays, sounds, inlets, and estuaries; 
the south shore of the Great Lakes, and the shores 
of navigable rivers penetrating the country, all of 
which are available for internal commerce, and in- 
directly for external or foreign. We omit Alaska, 
both territory and coast-line, as of little avail for 
commercial purposes. 

We find the coast line, including indentations, 
etc., of the United States on both oceans about 
18,000 miles, the shore-line of the Great Lakes at 
least 1,000, and the shore-line of the Mississippi 
and its tributaries 10,000 miles, though at certain 
seasons the navigable waters of these rivers have 
been estimated at 17,000 miles. Thus the entire 



NATURAL RESOURCES 



coast-line on the oceans, lakes, and rivers amounts 
to 29,000 miles, which, divided into the area of the 
United States, 3,014,459 square miles, excluding 
Alaska, gives about one mile of shore-line to each 
104 square miles of surface. 

5. Advantages. — We recognize the great ad- 
vantage to a nation of having a seacoast indented 
with numerous bays, inlets, and estuaries. These 
afford harbors for shipping, and facilitate intercourse 
and commerce with outside countries, while long 
and navigable rivers, as with the United States, aid 
much in the more important item of internal com- 
merce, and indirectly with foreign. 

6. The General Result. — The past has shown 
that the most commercial nations of antiquity were 
those that inhabited countries whose coasts were 
thus indented, as were the coasts of Greece and 
Italy. Modern times show the same general result, 
inasmuch as the people thus situated are at the 
present time the most advanced in industrial pur- 
suits and in commercial intercourse, as well as 
being on the higher plane of a Christianized civili- 
zation. 

COAL. 

7. In treating of the resources of the United 
States it is proper to commence with coal, as the 
minerals with which the country abounds would be 
of little avail were it not for coal to aid in their ex- 
traction. 

We are told that " coal is not a mechanical for- 
mation, nor is it a chemical compound ; it is the 
production of vegetable matter that grew upon the 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 



place where now the coal is found," and '* among 
which were no sea-weeds, but plants that grew in 
air." We can have but little conception of the 
marvelous amount of vegetation that covered these 
portions of the surface of the earth during the 
period designated the " Carboniferous age " by 
geologists. At that period grew certain flags which 
were fourteen inches in diameter ; similar species are 
found to-day, but they are only one half inch in 
thickness ; certain kinds of mosses then grew to 
the height of fifty feet or more, and thick in pro- 
portion, which now, even in the tropics, grow not 
very tali ; and similar ferns now found in our woods 
loomed up in that period sixty or more feet. When 
compared with this, how insignificant appears the 
amount of vegetation in the densest forests of to- 
day ! 

8. Pressure and Time required — It has been 
estimated that a seam of coal twenty feet thick would 
require to form it a deposit, in the form of peat, 
of this vegetable matter one hundred and twenty feet 
thick. We may strive to imagine the pressure re- 
quired to reduce this mass to twenty feet in thick- 
ness. It is also estimated that " it would require 
7,400 years to produce a single coal-bed three feet 
thick V ; and Professor Dana thinks that " hard wood 
would be reduced three fourths in weight and seven 
eighths in bulk to form ordinary bituminous coal. . . . 
The extraordinary growth or formation of coal in 
the anthracite regions is due to an excess of naphtha 
or petroleum, which resulted from heat due to vol- 
canic influences ; and the nature of the coal is also 



NATURAL RESOURCES 



due to the same causes" (D. and B., p. 276) — a 
heat not sufficient to consume the coal, but only to 
deprive it of its volatile elements. 




Fig 2. 



Fig. 3. 



Fig. 1. 

Figs, i, 2, 3.— Coal-Ferns : 1. Callipteris Sullivanti (after Lesquereux). 
2. Pecopteris Strongii (after Lesquereux). 3. Alethopteris Massilonis 
(after Lesquereux). 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 



9. The Identification. — The almost perfect 
identity of these various plants, in some respects, 
with those of the present time, is ascertained from 
their remains imbedded in the coal or in the slates 
or shales above, or the clay beneath it. Here are 
found the images of the leaves of plants, branches, 
and twigs, showing their relationship by their con- 
struction ; even the most delicate fibers of the leaf, 
when not clear to the naked eye, come out dis- 
tinctly under the microscope. Especially are these 
remains found in the slates above the seam, when 
the fiber has not been perfectly transformed into 
coal ; and in the impervious clay or fossil soil, 
which served as the bed of the morass where the 
plants and trees grew and shed their leaves, which 
in due time were converted into coal. In this clay 
are frequently found the remains of stumps and 
roots and even trunks of trees that have not been 
transformed into coal, but only into slates or shales, 
owing to the influence of the presence of sand and 
clay, or mud. " Certainly this vegetable matter 
must have been covered with water, as soon as it 
was formed, in order to be preserved from the rapid 
decomposition which always takes place in the open 
air " ; and the " coal was thus formed by the accu- 
mulation of carbon and bitumen from an excessive 
growth of vegetation, " when the climate was uni- 
formly very warm and moist. The peat-bogs of 
to-day are but incipient coal-beds ; all that is want- 
ed are time and certain conditions to convert them 
into coal. 

10. Coal first bituminous. — In some bitu- 



8 NATURAL RESOURCES 

minous coals these minute remains of leaves and 
fibers are sometimes found sufficiently distinct to 
indicate their origin, but in the anthracite, owing 
to heat and pressure, nearly every, trace of the 
original material has disappeared. It is evident 
from its constituents that all coal was at first bitu- 
minous in character, and that the anthracite result- 
ed from the combination of heat and pressure 
upon a certain portion cf the great original coal- 
field. 

n. Characteristics. — The structure of cannel 
coal consists of layers, easily split apart in one di- 
rection ; it is usually compact, and contains a large 
per cent, of volatile matter, producing gas of great 
illuminating power. 

12. Horizontal Position of Strata.— Geolo- 
gists tell us this immense coal-field was at first level, 
and the strata of coals — for there are many such — 
were afterward upheaved by an internal force, and 
a portion of the seams was thrown to the surface. 
This exposed portion in the course of time, we 
know not how long, was wasted away by the action 
of the elements, and of course made a break in the 
continuity of the seam. That portion which re- 
mained deeper underground was preserved, and 
this coal we find to-day in the curved basins, espe- 
cially in the anthracite regions ; but in the bitumi- 
nous the strata of coal are almost level, the dip 
being comparatively very little. 

The resemblance of the various coal-seams is a 
convincing argument for this theory or statement, 
together with the similar strata of rocks, etc., con- 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 



nected with them, which are pointed out as of the 
same uniform character. These wave-like seams 
appear like " wrinkles upon the face of Mother 
Earth," the causes of which geologists tell us; but 
that question is out of place to be noticed here. 

THE EXTENT OF COAL. 

13. When we compare the area of the coal-fields 
of the world, we notice the great disparity in rela- 
tion to the quantity possessed by different countries. 
For instance, we learn from statistics that France 
has one square mile of available coal to every two 
hundred square miles of territory ; Belgium one 
square mile of coal to every twenty-two and a half 
of territory ; and Great Britain one square mile to 
twenty square miles of territory. France has a coal- 
field of 4,000 square miles, that is, where coal is 
found, but of these only 1,000 are workable, the 
seams being so thin ; Belgium has 510 square miles 
of workable coal; the coal-field of England is given 
at about 12,000 square miles, that is, where coal is 
found, but the workable area is estimated to be 
6,195 square miles by one authority, and by an- 
other at 5,000; yet Great Britain has more than 
half the coal-producing area of Europe. Professor 
Armstrong, as quoted by Le Conte, estimates that 
the whole workable coal of Great Britain will be 
exhausted in no years. (Le Conte, p. 340.) 

14. The Comparison. — Some of the countries 
of Europe are destitute or nearly so of coal ; and 
for its entire surface of 3,750,000 square miles of 
territory, it is estimated to have 10,000 square miles 



10 



NATURAL RESOURCES 



of coal-producing area, or one in 375, while the 
United States with 3,000,000 square miles of terri- 
tory has more than 200,000 square miles of known 
coal-producing area, or one to 15 of territory. This 
may be taken as the present esti- 
mate, but as new fields are discov- 
ered from time to time, the ratio, 
instead of being one in 15, will be- 
come much less. This estimate does 
not include the extensive coal-fields 
lying along the western edge of the 
Plains and the eastern base of the 
Rocky Mountains, and extending for 
hundreds of miles ; nor the fields in 
the Great Basin and on the Pacific 
slope — these coals are known as lig- 
nites. The combined area of these 
separate fields is estimated at more 
than 100,000 square miles. 

15. Coal-Measures. — The dis- 
parity is also great, both in respect 
to the thickness of the seams of coal 
and their availability in mining. The 
coal-measures, as geology informs 
Fig. 4 . — ideal Sec- us consist of thick strata of sand- 

tion showing Al- 7 

temation of Dif- stones, shales, or slates, ledges of 

ferent Kinds of . 7 7 ' ° 

Strata. Ss, sand- limestone, and other rocks, also 

stone ; Sk y shale ; . . 

/, limestone; *, sometimes beds of iron-ore ; and 

iron ; and c. coal. • i i • , -i 

amid these strata are interspersed 
seams of coal of various thicknesses, some so thin 
as not to be available, and others sufficiently thick to 
be easily mined. Thus frequently, especially in the 




OF THE UNITED STATES. n 

United States, are found within easy reach the 
iron-ore, the coal to smelt it, and the limestone to 
flux it. 

16. The Dip. — In England the thickness of 
the coal in the aggregate is estimated at thirty-five 
feet ; but the seams are thin, ranging in size from 
only twelve inches to six feet, according to some au- 
thorities. The coal lies very low, and in order to 
mine it shafts must be sunk sometimes from 800 to 
2,000 feet or more. The dip of the seams, for the 
most part, is quite great, and to free the mines of 
water is frequently very expensive. In the anthra- 
cite district of Pennsylvania, the available coal is 
fully 60 feet in thickness, and here the seams are few 
and of workable depth, one of which — " the Mam- 
moth " or main seam — averages about 40 feet. Over 
the entire coal-field of the United States, as esti- 
mated by some writers on the subject, there is in 
the aggregate of workable seams an average thick- 
ness of 20 feet of coal. (D. and B., p. 320.) 

17. Facility of mining. — One peculiarity of 
these fields of the Union is the ease with which 
the coal can be mined ; because of its dip the most 
difficult being the anthracite of Pennsylvania, while 
in the bituminous regions the coal is found in 
workable seams from three to eight feet or more 
thick, running into the hillsides along the streams 
that have cut their way down through the coal- 
measures, or in almost horizontal seams found under 
the prairie, and easily reached by shafts of only a 
few hundred feet in depth. The seams in the hill- 
sides are self-draining. 



12 NATURAL RESOURCES 



CLASSIFICATION OF COAL. 

18. The coals of the United States may be 
divided into four general classes ; the anthracite, 
the semi-bituminous, the bituminous, including can- 
nel, and the lignite or brown coal. The anthracite 
is located farthest east; the semi-bituminous di- 
rectly west of this ; the latter marks the transition 
from the anthracite or hard coal to the bituminous 
or soft coal, found on the west slope and side of the 
Alleghanies, and thence westward till the lignite of 
the Rocky Mountains and Western Territories is 
reached. 

19. The Monopoly. — Nature has given eastern 
Pennsylvania the monopoly of the anthracite coal, 
which can be said of no State in respect to the 
other coals just mentioned. This coal is hard to 
kindle, and burns with scarcely any flame, but is 
most valuable for its heating power, under the prop- 
er conditions of a draught. It contains from 85 to 
95 per cent, carbon, with only a small amount of 
ash, and but little volatile matter. From the color 
of the ash this coal is frequently designated white 
ash or red ; the latter owes its color to the presence 
of the oxide of iron. The white ash has generally 
about 95 per cent, of carbon, and the red from 85 
to 90. 

20. Area and Richness. — The area of the 
anthracite field has been surveyed, and amounts to 
472 square miles, with an average thickness of 60 
feet of available coal in different workable seams 
underlying the entire area. This would give 60,000 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 



13 



tons to the acre, 
proper precaution 
which sustain the 



and it is thought that with 
in respect to the coal pillars, 
roof of the mine, and greater 
care in preventing wastage, this 
amount might be increased one 
half. The aggregate thickness of 
the seams of coal in some portions 
of this field is more than 100 
feet. 

From twelve to thirteen mil- 
lion inhabitants derive their main 
supply of coal-fuel from this com- 
paratively small area of anthracite, 
while the area of territory it nat- 
urally supplies is about 300,000 
square miles. 

21. The Attritions. — The en- 
tire anthracite region has spaces 
where the coal is not found, for 
geologists show that, owing to the 
upheaval of the original horizon- 
tal coal strata, they were curved, 
and the portions protruding above 
the surface were worn away by 
the attrition of the elements, while 
the remaining, underneath the sur- 
face, was left in narrow, trough- 
like basins curved up at the sides 
and ends. 

Mr. James Macfarlane classi- 
fies this anthracite field as follows : 



14 



NATURAL RESOURCES 



1. Southern or Schuylkill basin 

2. Middle, Shamokin (50), Mahony 

(41), and Lehigh (37) . 

3. Northern, Wyoming, and Lacka- 



area, 146 square miles. 



128 



Total 



472 



22. The Basins. — Of prominent places or busi- 
ness centers may be mentioned, in the first, Potts- 
ville ; in the second, Locustdale and Shamokin ; 
and in the third, Scranton, Pittston, and Wilkes- 
barre. These separate basins are found on the 
head-streams of the rivers Schuylkill, Lehigh, and 
Susquehanna ; the latter winds its way through the 
Wyoming Valley, but the coal-seams of that basin 
are below the bed of the river. These basins are 
irregular in shape, and contain coal in a number of 
seams, some of them of an astonishing thickness. 
Throughout this whole field, the main seam known 




Fig. 6. — Nesquehoning Basins (after Daddow). 

among the miners as the " Mammoth," so noted for 
its massive and solid benches of pure coal " without 
a streak of impurity," is from twelve to seventy feet 
thick, while the other seams are nearly all workable. 
" This is the most regular and reliable of all our 
coal-seams, the most economical to mine and oper- 
ate, and from its size the most productive." (D. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 15 

and B., p. 251.) Indeed, owing to upheavals, the 
seams are much tilted, and therefore the mining 
operations here are carried on with much more 
difficulty and expense than in the bituminous fields, 
but this is compensated by the value of the coal, 
and by its being in great demand. 

23. Anthracite, where found. — Anthracite 
coal, when compared with bituminous, exists in 
smaller areas. Besides in Pennsylvania, it is found 
in only one place in Virginia, and that in limited 
quantities. This coal is similar to the red-ash of 
the Schuylkill. In Rhode Island it is found, but 
it is small in quantity and of inferior quality ; it is 
also found in New Mexico, some twenty miles from 
Santa Fe — this contains %$> per cent, of carbon, 
color jet black, and leaves a red ash — and on Queen 
Charlotte's Island, British Columbia. In Europe it 
is found in South Wales, in the south of Ireland, in 
France, in Saxony, and Russia; but in all these 
places in very limited quantities, and also inferior 
in quality. 

SEMI-BITUMINOUS COAL. 

24. The transition space from the anthracite to 
the bituminous fields of the west part of Pennsyl- 
vania is occupied by several basins of semi-bitu- 
minous coal, along the head-waters of the west 
branch of the Susquehanna, the Juniata, and the 
Alleghany Rivers. This form of coal is found only 
in the Alleghany range. As prominent among these 
basins may be mentioned the Broad Top coal-field, 
the area of which is about 80 square miles, and those 



16 NATURAL RESOURCES 

at Blossburg and at Tonawanda (M., p. 239). Of 
the same general character, semi-bituminous, is the 
coal found in the vicinity of Cumberland, Maryland. 
This field, being also on the eastern edge of the 
great Alleghany bituminous coal-field, is within the 
transition space just mentioned, though the anthra- 
cite lies north of it, and the bituminous coal comes 
round on its southern border. The aggregate area 
of the three basins comprising the Cumberland coal 
region amounts to about 550 square miles. This 
coal is much used for locomotives, and for generat- 
ing steam on shipboard. 

The semi-bituminous coal predominates for the 
greater part all along the extreme eastern line of 
this great coal-field. This edge appears to have 
been subjected, in a modified form, to the same 
influences of heat and pressure that prevailed in the 
region where pure anthracite is found. Thus far 
the influence exerted upon the industries of the 
land by means of the anthracite coal-fields has been 
exceedingly great. 

BITUMINOUS COAL-FIELDS. 

25. We now pass to the bituminous coal-fields, 
and notice first the isolated ones lying east of the 
Alleghanies. There are three coal-fields in eastern 
Virginia, all of limited dimensions : the Richmond, 
the Piedmont, and the Dan River. In the first, 
about thirteen miles west of Richmond, mines were 
opened in colonial times, but not worked to much 
extent; recently these mines have been operated to 
the depth of 130 to 700 feet. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 17 

There are several small basins near each other, 
the whole area estimated at about 185 square miles. 
These beds or seams vary in thickness, running 
from four to forty feet, and are irregular and broken, 
and liable to be "nipped out," as the miners say. 
The disposition of this bituminous coal in these 
troughs of granite is an interesting geological fact, 
nowhere else found on the continent. It is white 
ash and highly bituminous, but varies much in its 
quality in the different beds, some portions being 
quite impregnated with sulphur. Yet good coal 
can be obtained from these mines. 

On the eastern margin of this basin is a bed of 
natural coke, as it is termed. It has all the quali- 
ties of coke, except the "cellular texture" of that 
article ; this, it would seem, has been prevented by 
pressure when the volatile ingredients were driven 
off by heat. It retains all the carbon of the original 
coal, and makes an intense and steady heat, as it has 
about 81 per cent, of carbon. (M., pp. 505-508.) 

The latter two fields mentioned are both small, 
and their seams thin, and worked only for a limited 
home consumption. A small coal-field lies in the 
Valley of Virginia, across which New River, the 
upper stream of the Kanawha, cuts its way toward 
the Ohio. This field, or rather trough, is not more 
than 1,000 feet wide, but miles in length, the seams 
from two to four feet in thickness. The coal is 
remarkably free from sulphur, but contains much 
earthy matter. 

26. The coal-field in North Carolina, known as 
the Deep River, has an area of 60 to 100 square 



IS NATURAL RESOURCES 

miles. The seams are comparatively thin, but 
shafts have been sunk 360 feet, and a seam of five 
feet thick has been reached. 

27. Nearness of Ore-Beds, and Dryness of 
Coal. — In some localities, as at Johnstown, Cam- 
bria County, Pennsylvania, are found the coal, the 
iron-ore, and the limestone, all imbedded in the 
same mountain, one above the other in horizontal 
beds and above water-level. The only transporta- 
tion needed is the short distance from the mouth 
of these mines to the furnaces in blast. 

The coals of the Alleghany field, both anthracite 
and bituminous, are remarkable for their dryness 
and their adaptability for all purposes for which 
great heat is required. 

28. Location of Coal and Extent.— The bi- 
tuminous portion of the Alleghany coal-field lies 
along the western slope of that range of mountains, 
through western Pennsylvania and across the Ohio 
River in its upper course for some distance ; and in 
the same manner southwest along the slope, taking 
in West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, eastern Ten- 
nessee, northwest Georgia, and northern Alabama. 
Its widest portion is about 180 miles, from Cum- 
berland, Maryland, to Newark, Ohio, tapering from 
this line toward the south, until in Alabama it is 
only thirty miles wide ; it tapers also from the same 
line toward the north, but not nearly so much. 
The whole area is about 60,000 square miles. 

29. The Rivers and Valleys. — From the crest 
of the mountains, and over their western water-shed, 
flow many streams, all taking a western or north- 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 19 

western course, which leads them finally into the 
Ohio River. Evidently this water-shed of to-day 
was once a plain, which by internal force was 
tilted gently or raised on the southeast side, from 
the original position, so as to decline in a uniform 
manner toward the northwest. The Conemaugh, 
the Youghiogheny, the Cheat, the Monongahela, 
the New River, and its prolongation the Kanawha, 
the Cumberland, and the Tennessee, with their nu- 
merous tributaries, cut their way across this in- 
clined plane, making deep valleys down through 
the coal-measures, bringing the coal itself to light 
as it is now seen cropping out on the hillsides. It 
took innumerable ages to accomplish all this, and to 
open the way for easy mining, and saving millions on 
millions of expense in shafts and machinery and ex- 
tra labor. In this process the vast amount of coal 
that once occupied the space of the present valleys, 
these rivers scooped out and carried away. Yet, 
as far as we know, there remains coal sufficient for 
the use of man through all coming time, while he 
has been compensated, if need be, for the loss, in 
the greater facilities of mining thus obtained, and 
in the means afforded by these rivers in the trans- 
portation of the coal to where it is wanted, and in 
the beautiful and fertile valleys of the whole region, 
enriched by these various streams. The irregular 
hilltops that remain are the representatives, more 
or less, of the surface of the primitive plain. These 
hills also preserve the original strata of coal-seams, 
and the corresponding strata of rocks and earth. 
The coal of this field, for the most part, is similar 



20 NATURAL RESOURCES 

in its characteristics, yet we find some differences. 
It is estimated to have workable coal-seams in the 
aggregate from 20 to 30 feet thick, the lower seams 
being generally the thickest and the purest. 

30. The Pittsburg Seam.— As in the anthra- 
cite coal one main seam was noticed — the " Mam- 
moth " — so in the bituminous field is found a main 
seam also, known as the " Pittsburg " ; thus named, 
as in the hills surrounding that city, and for a hun- 
dred or two miles distant from it, extends this 
particular seam. This coal enters immensely into 
the varied industries carried on in that busy city. 
This seam is not less than eight feet in thickness, 
and toward the southeast from Pittsburg it gradually 
increases in depth till at Connellsville, sixty miles 
distant, it is from nine to eleven feet, and still farther, 
at Cumberland, Maryland, it reaches from twelve 
to fourteen feet. Upon the whole, this seam is won- 
derful in the regularity of its formation ; it occupies 
in area about 20,000 square miles, and extends into 
West Virginia, Ohio, and Maryland. The coal of 
this seam is not surpassed in certain valuable prop- 
erties ; it is everywhere used for obtaining gas, and 
much of it is taken to the Eastern cities as well as 
to the Western for that purpose. Just east of Pitts- 
burg, on the Pennsylvania Central Railroad, is the 
most important gas-coal-mining region in the Union. 
This coal is virtually free from sulphur, and yields 
from 40 to 45 cubic feet of gas to each ten pounds 
of coal. It is also valuable for smelting purposes 
in the form of coke. 

31. The Many Seams.— The fertile hills that 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 21 

line the valleys in this field have two or three other 
seams of coal besides the main or Pittsburg ; one 
of these is sometimes cannel, as found on the upper 
Monongahela. As a rule this main seam preserves 
a nearly horizontal position, hence it is easily mined, 
and is likewise self-drained. This is noticeable on 
the banks of the Monongahela, where the main 
seam on the upper portion rises gradually from the 
water's edge, till in the course of some 50 miles it 
crops out 200 feet above the river, then it drops 
almost to the water's edge at Brownsville ; then ris- 
ing again evenly, it crops out sixty miles distant in 
the hills near Pittsburg, 300 feet above the water's 
edge. It may be remarked that the descent of the 
river makes this dip appear greater than it really is. 
At Pittsburg is found another seam of coal, 100 to 
150 feet below the surface. 

32. The Statement.— Sir Charles Lyell (" Ele- 
ments of Geology," p. 392), after expressing his as- 
tonishment at the magnitude of this seam of coal, 
says, " Horizontal galleries may be driven every- 
where at very little expense, and so worked as to 
drain themselves, while the cars laden with coal, 
and attached to each other, glide down on a rail- 
way, so as to deliver their burden into barges moored 
to the river's bank." He might have added that in 
most cases the laden car in passing down draws up 
an empty one to the mouth of the mine. No doubt 
Sir Charles's amazement was increased as he com- 
pared the ease with which this coal was mined with 
the difficulties of mining coal in his native land. 

33. The Remarkable Change.— This seam 



22 NATURAL RESOURCES 

changes its character somewhat in the course of fifty 
miles southeast of Pittsburg at Connellsville, on the 
Youghiogheny River, near the western base of the 
mountains. Here it becomes free from sulphur 
and phosphorus, and also increases from nine to 
eleven feet in thickness, and acquires properties that 
make the best coke known for smelting raw iron- 
ore in blast-furnaces. It is equally famed for its 
excellences for foundry purposes in melting pig- 
iron, and in converting it into steel by the Besse- 
mer process ; it is transported and used much in 
mixture with the Western bituminous coals. 

34. Varieties of Coal. — A very important sec- 
tion of this coal-field is in West Virginia ; perhaps 
in proportion to its size the richest State in the 
Union in coal, iron, oil, and salt. New River, the 
upper course of the Kanawha, the main river of the 
State, rises in North Carolina, and in cutting its way 
through the mountains forms a gorge, having on 
either hand cliffs rising from 800 to 1,200 feet, thus 
grading a way for the Chesapeake and Ohio Rail- 
road, uniting the two waters as the name indicates. 
Along this river are found some isolated and small 
basins of anthracite coal, but in disturbed or irreg- 
ular strata (M., p. 267). Several varieties of coal 
are found in this State, the common bituminous all 
along the Kanawha, four seams of which are found 
above its bed, three of which are workable, while 
on Coal River, a branch coming from the north, 
crop out seams of common coal, and also an ex- 
tensive seam of cannel — the famed Peytona seam — 
of excellent quality. In Ritchie County is a " vein 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 23 

of asphaltum/<?#r and a half feet thick, more than 
3,coo feet long, and of unknown depth. It fills a 
great fissure, which breaks through the rocks, near- 
ly perpendicular, and outcrops on the surface." 
This deposit is in connection with petroleum. 

35. Coals, Block and Cannel. — The area of 
productive coal in the State of Ohio is about 7,000 
square miles. It belongs to the northwest portion 
of the Alleghany coal-field. The seams are remark- 
able for their regularity and gentle inclination. The 
varieties of coal consist of laminated " block " — the 
same in kind as that found at Brazil, Indiana — can- 
nel, and the ordinary bituminous — all, as far as 
known, in the eastern portion of the State. What 
is called the Mahony Valley seam of coal is deemed 
of very fine quality, as it is good for open 
burning and also for smelting iron-ores from the 
same valley. The cannel coal is found excellent 
for generating steam in locomotives, and for mak- 
ing gas. 

36. Kentucky and Tennessee. — The coal- 
field of eastern Kentucky occupies an area of about 
10,000 square miles. It is in trust for the future, as 
at present, for the want of roads, it is comparative- 
ly inaccessible, and has not been much developed. 

The coal area of East Tennessee is about 3,700 
square miles in extent. Ii belongs to the high table- 
land known as Cumberland Mountain. This high 
plateau is from 900 to 1,200 feet above the valley 
of East Tennessee, and 2,000 above the ocean. 
This valley has all the materials at hand for making 
iron — the ore, coal, and limestone. Geologically 



24 



NATURAL RESOURCES 



speaking, this is the most interesting section of the 
Alleghany or (here) Cumberland range. 

37. Coal and Iron-Ore near each other.— 

Alabama has three distinct coal-fields in her north- 
ern portion. The principal, the Black Warrior, 
thus named from the river that flows over it, has an 
area of 5,000 square miles. The seams of this field 
range in thickness from eightee?i inches to four and 
a half feet. The coal is of medium quality. The 
other two fields comprise only a few hundred square 
miles of area. These coal-deposits are surrounded 
by beds of iron-ore, principally red hematite^ espe- 
cially that of Red Mountain, some twenty-five miles 
in length. Here is another striking instance where 
iron-ore, coal, and limestone are in a native state 
near each other. The coal-field of northwestern 
Georgia is quite limited in extent, being in area 
only a few hundred square miles. 

CENTRAL COAL-FIELD. 

38. We now pass to the Central coal-field, in the 
aggregate amounting to more than 50,000 square 




Fig. 7.— Illinois Coal-Field (after Daddow). 



miles, taking in all that is found in the States of 
Illinois and Indiana on the north side of the Ohio, 



OF THE UNITED STATES, 25 

and a portion of western Kentucky on the south 
side. It is divided about as follows : Illinois, 40,000 ; 
Indiana, 7,700; and Kentucky, 3,888 square miles. 
The Mississippi River separates this field from its 
counterpart in Iowa and Missouri. These formed, 
no doubt, at one period, one and the same continu- 
ous field. The coal of these prairie States is reached 
by sinking shafts from 200 to 400 feet deep. The 
coals of Kentucky and Illinois are of the common 
bituminous character. 

39. A Coal remarkably pure. — The "block- 
coal " of Indiana deserves a more special notice. 
It is thus named because of its peculiar construc- 
tion, as it is crossed at right angles by joint-seams, 
that greatly aid the miner in handling it. It comes 
out of the bed in cubes about three feet long by 
half as wide and thick. The structure is laminated 
or in layers, splitting easily in one direction, but 
not in the other. This coal is remarkably free from 
both sulphur and phosphorus (M., p. 392). "The 
blocks retain their shape until burned to ash in such 
a manner as will permit the ready passage of the 
blast and flame through the entire mass of fuel, ore, 
and flux. . . . For manufacturing pig-iron, this coal 
is not surpassed by any in the country. The ashes 
left by a burning mass are as white and flocculent 
as those of hickory-wood,'* and, though subjected 
to the strongest draught, it does not clinker. The 
area of this " block "-coal field thus far discovered 
is about 450 square miles. 

40. The Ores, the Furnaces. — At Brazil, once 
an obscure station on the Cincinnati and Terre Haute 



26 NATURAL RESOURCES 

Railroad, where, a few years since, this coal was 
accidentally discovered, have been established sev- 
eral blast-furnaces. The ores are brought to the 
coal-mines from Lake Superior, and from Iron 
Mountain, in Missouri, and are mixed in the fur- 
nace. There are no less than eleven seams, great 
and small, in this field of coal, which in the aggre- 
gate amount to twenty-eight feet ; one of these, a 
common bituminous coking coal, is seven feet thick. 

41. Where else Block-Coal. — In Illinois is 
also found a seam of the iron-smelting block-coal. 
It is near the Mississippi, southeast of St. Louis, and 
just across the river from the famous Iron Mountain. 
This coal is also found in several other places in 
southwestern Illinois. It has the valuable proper- 
ties of the Indiana block-coal. The coal of this 
large Central field is deemed, in the main, inferior 
to the bituminous coal of the Alleghany field, the 
exception being the block-coal just mentioned. 

42. The Number of Seams. — The coal area 
of western Kentucky has seams of valuable cannel 
ranging in thickness from four to six feet. Some- 
times as many as three seams of different kinds of 
coal, each from five to six feet in thickness, appear, 
one above another, cropping out on the same hill- 
side, within the space of 125 feet. 

43. Characteristics of this Coal. — The coal- 
field of Iowa is but the extension of the Central, as 
has just been noticed, and the coal has the same 
general characteristics, is under the prairie, and 
mined in the same manner. The area, as far as 
now ascertained, is about 16,000 square miles. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 27 

44. Singular Coal-Deposits. — Missouri has 
an area of 26,887 square miles of coal-seams, prin- 
cipally in the eastern portion of the State. This 
has the same qualities, essentially, as that of the 
coal of Illinois. Some of this coal is reached by 
shafts only thirty ox forty feet deep. 

In this State are found a number of singular 
local deposits of coal, which are of remarkable thick- 
ness, but not following the laws governing the strata 
in other places ; nor are they in connection with the 
rocks where coal is usually found, but, geologically 
speaking, " in the older rocks below the level of the 
regular seams of coal." The same may be said of 
nearly all the coal of Iowa. This isolated coal 
region, so abnormal in its characteristics, lies near 
the mouth of the Osage River, and on both sides 
of the Missouri. The deposits are both of the bitu- 
minous and cannel. The seams are limited in ex- 
tent, but are of extraordinary thickness, ranging 
from twenty to forty feet. The structure of this caii- 
nel-coal is peculiar, and its lightness is such that it 
will float on water before it becomes saturated. In 
its structure, fracture, and luster, it has the appear- 
ance intermediate between the ordinary cannel-coal 
and the dull varieties of asphaltum. All the cannel- 
coal thus far discovered in the State seems to belong 
to these singular deposits. 

45. Coal less valuable ; the Specimens. — 
Michigan has an isolated coal-field of about 6,700 
square miles. The coal is not as valuable as some 
others, because of its containing so much sulphur. 
It is remarkable for the many beautiful specimens 



28 NATURAL RESOURCES 

preserved in its shales of terrestrial vegetation, such 
as fern-leaves. 

Nebraska has about 3,000 square miles of coal 
thus far discovered. The seams are comparatively 
thin, and not very available for use. 

46. Coal-Seams and Limestone ; the Tran- 
sition. — Kansas has a coal area of 22,256 square 
miles, which lies in almost a horizontal plane, so 
that at any point within the field the coal can be 
reached by sinking shafts in the prairie. The uni- 
formity of the thickness of the seams is remarkable 
(M., p. 479). Geologists tell us that "the lowest 
geological formation known in Kansas is the upper 
portion of the coal-measures. " The upper seams 
of coal are only from ten to twenty-eight inches thick, 
while the deeper range from five to nearly seven feet. 
The latter furnish good coal, and are easily worked. 
In these coal-measures are found also many strata 
of limestone. The finest portion of the coal-field 
of Kansas borders on the Indian Territory, and no 
doubt it extends within that beautiful region. The 
coal of eastern Kansas is bituminous in character, 
but in the western portion a transition commences, 
and the coal gradually partakes of the properties 
of the lignite variety, which is represented as " a 
lighter coal, containing more gaseous matter and 
less carbon." 

47. Semi-bituminous. — Arkansas has a coal- 
field of 10,000 square miles. Two seams have been 
found, the lower one alone being available. Here 
is also found a seam of semi-bituminous, even rich- 
er in carbon than similar seams in Pennsylvania. 



OF THE UNITED STATES, 29 

The seam in one place is from three and a half to 
four feet in thickness, in another four and a half. 
This coal contains 82^ per cent, carbon. 

48. Underlaid with Coal. — Texas has a sur- 
veyed bituminous coal-field from 4,000 to 5,000 
square miles in extent, but no doubt much more 
will be discovered hereafter, as a large portion of 
the State is supposed to be underlaid with coal. 
This field has been opened along the Brazos River ; 
the seam varies in thickness from two to four feet. 
Lignite coal has also been found in this State. 

LIGNITE. 

49. As has been said, the transition from the 
bituminous to the " oxygenated class of coals," or 
lignite, begins in western Kansas, and the line from 
that point runs quite regularly north and south, so 
that we find this class of coal in Colorado and on 
the upper Missouri, and indeed all along the east- 
ern base of the Rocky Mountains, even to the far 
north, on the head-waters of the Saskatchewan in 
the British Possessions. 

50. Ingredients of Lignite. — This coal con- 
tains an unusual amount of water, and can not be 
used to advantage in foundries, as it will not pro- 
duce sufficient heat to melt the metal. The com- 
position of lignite would seem to be of wood — the 
remains of trees — as transported by rivers or heaped 
up in various ways, as if in morasses, where the 
trees grew and fell. The fossil leaves found in 
lignite indicate that these trees were similar to those 
of the present day ; beneath the coal, in the hard 



30 NATURAL RESOURCES 

clay and rocky strata, occur innumerable impres- 
sions of leaves, much like those of our common 
forest-trees, but belonging to species long extinct, 
showing that far back in " the geological past " 
these now treeless regions were covered with a 
dense forest. It is destitute of the fern-leaves so 
common in the bituminous coal-measures. 

51. Beds of Charred Wood. — These coal- 
beds (for they are not seams in the sense of those 
found in the bituminous fields) are of great thick- 
ness, sometimes even twenty-six or twenty-seven feet, 
as are the beds on the eastern border of Utah. For 
the most part, these coals are remarkably pure, like 
charred wood or soft charcoal. At Golden City, Colo- 
rado, is a bed of lignite from ten to fourteen feet thick, 
which is mined by a shaft. There are many such 
mines opened and operated in the State — such as near 
Boulder — while others are being discovered from 
time to time. This coal will not furnish sufficient 
heat, and the machine-shops of the Pacific Railway 
are supplied with coal from the semi-bituminous 
fields of Pennsylvania. 

52. Extent of Lignite Mines. — At Cheyenne, 
Wyoming Territory, near the east foot of the Black 
Hills, by the side of the railway, is sunk a shaft 
seventy feet down to a coal-bed seven feet thick. A 
goodly portion of the coal mined here is used in 
the locomotives, as it makes a fine flame and gen- 
erates steam rapidly. 

Lignite-coal mines, for nearly 500 miles west 
of Cheyenne, have been found along the route of 
the Pacific Railway. It is estimated that the lignite- 



OF THE UNITED ST A TES. 31 

coal field along the eastern base of the Rocky 
Mountains, and between them and the Sierra Ne- 
vada, amounts to 50,000 square miles within the 
United States, and it extends far into the British 
Possessions. In truth, time may show it to be 
much greater than it is now estimated. 

. COAL ON THE PACIFIC SLOPE. 

53. The coal found on the Pacific slope is of 
the lignite or tertiary variety ; it exists in many 
places along the slope, and also near the coast. 
These coals are more or less soft and friable, and 
contain more than usual of moisture, therefore giv- 
ing less heat than the ordinary bituminous kind; 
it is quite liable to waste in the handling. The 
woody fiber of this coal is so impregnated with 
bitumen that it burns with the peculiar smoke and 
flame of that substance. 

54. The Region supplied. — At Mount Diablo, 
twenty-eight miles nearly east of San Francisco, are 
a large number of coal-mines, which are extensively 
worked, the beds ranging in thickness from two and 
a half to four feet. From these mines the whole 
region round about is supplied ; it is also used on 
the coast and river steamers, and for stationary en- 
gines and other purposes. The lowest bed is worked 
by means of a perpendicular shaft 700 feet deep. 

55. Coal free from Sulphur. — Farther north, 
in the valley of Coos River, in southern Oregon, 
are extensive mines of coal of superior quality. 
The seam is four and a half feet thick of workable 
coal, which is free from sulphur, and not liable to 



32 NATURAL RESOURCES , 

spontaneous combustion, as so many of these lig- 
nites are ; it is also free from an unpleasant odor 
when burning. These coal seams or beds are 
nearly horizontal, and are found in the hillsides, so 
that the mining is easy. They extend over a large 
space in the vicinity, but vary much in thickness — 
the maximum reaching nine feet. The coal has the 
defect of all lignites, not giving out much heat, 
compared with the bituminous of the East, but 
burning with a bright flashing flame. (M., p. 569.) 

56. The other Coal-Mines ; the Flora. — 
Still farther north are the Seattle coal-mines, in 
Washington Territory. The port of Seattle is the 
finest on Puget Sound, but the mines are nine miles 
distant. These have five seams of coal, ranging in 
thickness from four to twelve feet. In the extreme 
northwest of the Territory are the coal-mines, on 
Bellingham Bay. " There are nine coal-seams, mak- 
ing in the aggregate no feet, the seams ranging in 
thickness from five to twenty feet. . . . The flora of 
Bellingham Bay is remarkably like that of the lig- 
nite beds of the upper Missouri, the genera being 
all represented on that river, and some of the 
species identical. " (Professor Newberry.) This coal 
produces a large amount of slag and refuse when 
burning. 

57. The Region underlaid.— Geologists "sup- 
pose there is an extensive region underlaid with 
coal on the west side of the Cascade Range, ex- 
tending from Willamette Valley to Bellingham Bay. 
The lowest seam is reported to be sixteen feet in 
thickness." There is also almost a continuous out- 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 33 

crop of coal along the coast-hills from Cape Flattery 
to Admiralty Inlet, in Washington Territory. 

Coal is found at various places along the coast 
of Alaska. It partakes of the general character of 
the coal at Beliingham Bay and Vancouver's Island. 
Anthracite has been reported as having been found 
at several places in Alaska. 

COAL-FIELDS OF THE DOMINION. 

58. It may not be out of place to notice briefly 
the coal-fields of the Dominion of Canada. Nova 
Scotia, or the eastern provinces, have about 2,500 
square miles of available coal, though the area in 
which it is found is estimated from 5,000 to 10,000; 
but the seams are so thin that for the most part 
they are unavailable. " Out of seventy-eight seams 
at Pictou, the thickest bed contains only three feet 
eight inches of pure coal," and consequently it is 
mined with difficulty. The amount of sulphur in 
these coals materially impairs their value. Most of 
them are fatty, or highly bituminous, and produce 
gas, and, when distilled, oil quite abundantly. 

59. Immense Beds of Lignite. — In British 
Columbia coal is found in abundance on Vancou- 
ver's Island ; it partakes of the nature of that 
found at Beliingham Bay. The mines are worked 
extensively. In northwestern Ontario immense beds 
of lignite extend along the eastern base of the 

i Rocky Mountains, but how far is not definitely 
known. This vast coal-field covers all the head- 
fountains of the Saskatchewan, and also extends 
along the sources of Lake Athabasca. Another 



34 NATURAL RESOURCES 

similar coal-field stretches along the west side of 
the Mackenzie River, it is said, to the sixtieth de- 
gree of latitude. This lignite is found in beds from 
two to eight feet in thickness. . 

IRON-ORES. 

60. We come now to speak of the minerals of 
the United States — first of iron, as the most impor- 
tant in its influence upon the welfare of man. It 
may be stated that iron-ore is found in almost every 
section of the country, sometimes in small, isolated 
beds, apparently without any connection with each 
other, and sometimes in extensive veins amid the 
rocks in the mountains, or between layers of lime- 
stone, or in connection with coal-measures. These 
ores are often of far different properties, as the iron 
happens to be combined with various foreign sub- 
stances. " Iron-ores occur in so many different 
forms, and under so many chemical combinations, 
that no one theory of formation can cover the coin- 
cidents and conditions with w T hich they are found " 
(D. and B., p. 561). From some of the mines the 
ore is easily obtained, while in others it is found 
between ledges of rocks, so that it is extracted with 
great difficulty, the mine or vein running indefinite- 
ly among the rocks. 

61. The Incidental Combinations. — It may 
be remarked that almost universally these ores are 
found in connection with ledges of limestone and 
strata of coal, both these combined being essential 
in separating the impurities from the iron as found 
in ores. The ores are often designated by these 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 35 

incidental combinations as red, black, or yellow 
oxides, magnetic, specular, hematite, and many 
others — too many, in truth, to enumerate in this 
Primer. 

62. Iron-Ore found in Many Places. — Iron- 
ore — generally magnetic — is found in all the New 
England States, but in limited quantities, and in so 
many places that it would be tedious to mention 
them. The fuel necessary to smelt these ores may 
not now be convenient of access — thus they are in 
trust for the future. These isolated beds of ore 
often produce the very best quality of iron. 

63. Ore producing Good Iron. — In New York 
State, on Lake Champlain, and in the adjoining 
mountains — the Adirondacks — exist extensive beds 
of ore, which produce iron among the best in quality. 
It has hitherto been smelted by means of charcoal 
obtained from the neighboring forests. This State 
has also a remarkable deposit of iron-ore at Stirling 
Mountain, Orange County, the quality of which 
partakes of the nature of the famous Swedish ore 
mined at Danemore, in that country; and geology 
finds it imbedded in the same class of rocks. This 
bed is said to be nearly exhausted. 

64. Rich Ores, easily mined.— The State of 
New Jersey is peculiarly rich in magnetic ores, 
which seem to be practically unlimited in their ex- 
tent, and, as they are within easy reach of the an- 
thracite-coal field of Pennsylvania, and have an 
abundance of limestone near by, they are deemed 
very valuable. These ores are easily mined ; and 
the labor of transportation is comparatively light, 



36 NATURAL RESOURCES 

both for the ore and the fuel, so that this region, 
taken altogether, may be reckoned among the finest 
in the world for producing iron. 

65. The Mineral Wealth. — Pennsylvania 
stands preeminent in her mineral products. To her 
immense coal-fields are to be added inexhaustible 
mines of iron-ore, and ledges of limestone without 
limit. We find ore in this State under almost every 
condition : amid the hard rocks in the mountains, 
and in the valleys along their base ; and, still farther 
away from them, in the great limestone valley, the 
plowman occasionally runs against a lump of iron- 
ore. 

66. A Singular Deposit of Ore.— In Lebanon 
County, of this State, is a singular deposit of iron- 
ore, inasmuch as it is somewhat mingled with that 
of copper. This is one of the most extensive beds, 
and perhaps the most interesting, in the State. The 
ore of this deposit differs in character and structure 
from that of the other ores of this limestone region, 
as it seems to be the result of a volcanic eruption, 
terminating between the limestone ledges of the 
valley. 

67. The Stretch of Iron-Ore Deposits.— As 
we pass along this mountain-range toward the 
south, we find on both slopes — east and west side 
— more or less deposits of iron-ore, with the accom- 
paniments of coal and limestone. On the east side 
is the long valley, under several names — Cumber- 
land, Shenandoah, or Valley of Virginia, and Ten- 
nessee — extending from the Lehigh to the Chatta- 
hoochee, and on the west side a similar valley — 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Ligonier in the northeast, and under different names 
— stretching from near the New York State line far 
into West Virginia. Throughout these are found 
more or less iron-ore deposits. 

68. The Wealth of Rich Ores.— The great 
region of iron-ores in Virginia is in the limestones 
of the valley between the Blue Ridge and the main 
range, massive detached beds of ores — " magnetic, 
red oxides, and brown hematite " — in deposits never 
very deep, but in ridge and hill, or in hollows and 
crevices, amid the limestones. 

A belt of iron-ores extends across the State in a 
northeast and southwest direction, and is known to 
be rich in the production of metal. This deposit 
is practically inexhaustible, and contains every va- 
riety of ore suitable for making iron and steel ; in 
addition, the ores are easily mined, while an abun- 
dance of limestone is at hand for fluxing purposes. 
The specular and magnetic ores of this belt are said 
to " contain only a trace of sulphur, and are practi- 
cally free from phosphorus." This extensive belt is 
known as the " James River " in the vicinity of 
Lynchburg, where the ores have been mined to 
some extent, and where their good properties have 
been tested. 

69. The Ore-Fields of this State and the 
Cumberland Mountains. — Then comes western 
North Carolina, equally rich in having remarkable 
beds of ore — black oxide — which, when mined, 
looks like black sand, but has the best of reputa- 
tions for producing good iron, in the common char- 
coal- furnace, at the rate of 70 per cent, of the raw 



58 NATURAL RESOURCES 

ore. These ores, it is hoped, will become acces- 
sible to the coal-field of the Kanawha by means of 
connections with the railway along the cliffs of New 
River. 

The iron-ore field of the southern end of the 
Alleghanies, or Cumberland Mountains, shows many 
varieties of ores, and in sufficient abundance, it 
would seem, for all time. These ores of various 
kinds produce also iron of different qualities. 

70. The Great Deposit, and its Accom- 
paniments. — In passing into northern Alabama 
we have Red Mountain — an outspur of the Cum- 
berland — twenty-five miles long by four ox five wide, 
thus named from the tinge given its clay by the red 
iron-ore with which it greatly abounds. Here, 
within easy distance, are found the coal and the 
limestone for smelting this red ore. 

There are also found detached deposits of iron- 
ore, both in Kentucky and Tennessee, west of the 
Alleghanies, and a very large deposit of iron-ore ex- 
ists in eastern Ohio, in the Mahoning River Valley. 

71. The Comparison ; the Revolution. — The 
Alleghanies, in connection with their outspurs, stand 
preeminent in the world for their immense stores of 
iron and coal, and also for an abundance of lime- 
stone, so indispensable in smelting iron. What a con- 
trast between the Alleghanies and the Alps, the lat- 
ter comparatively so barren of minerals ! Even 
when compared with the Andes, and our own Rocky 
Mountains and Sierra Nevada, how much more 
important to the world is their iron and coal, in 
their intrinsic value, than the gold and silver of the 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 39 

three latter ! The iron of the Alleghanies can do 
more to advance the true welfare and progress of 
mankind than the silver and gold of the world com- 
bined. In the almost infinite applications of our 
iron wealth we only give an earnest of what our 
position is likely to be in the industrial world of 
the future. 

During the last few years a great revolution has 
been wrought, by the numerous improvements in- 
troduced, in extracting iron from the ore, and in 
modern appliances, by which this iron is easily re- 
fined and converted into steel. It would seem that 
for almost every purpose the more durable steel is 
superseding the old-fashioned iron, the former being 
so much more strong and lasting, and, for that rea- 
son, in the end, more useful and less expensive. 

72. The Iron Mountains. — There are two 
singular deposits of iron-ore in Missouri. These 
are immense, and known as Iron Mountain and 
Pilot Knob. They are about six miles from each 
other, and nearly seventy-five miles southeast from 
St. Louis. These elevations are from 500 to 600 
feet high, and are both filled with successive veins, 
or beds, of iron-ore. Iron Mountain is said to have 
the richest, it yielding 70 per cent, iron, while Pilot 
Knob yields 60, the characteristics of the ores being 
somewhat different. It is estimated that nearly 
one tenth of the bulk of these two mountains is 
pure ore. 

73. The Varieties of Rich Ores ; the Result. 
— Thus far we have seen the metallic ores more or 
less coexisting with coal and limestone. We now 



40 NATURAL RESOURCES 

come to an exception : neither coal nor limestone 
exists around Lake Superior, but iron-ores are found 
in untold quantities, and remarkable in the richness 
of their qualities. These ores apparently consist of 
all varieties — black and red oxides, specular and 
brown hematite. Well does this rich ore pay to be 
transported to the furnaces along the Great Lakes, 
to Pittsburg, to Brazil (Indiana), and other localities, 
to be mixed with ores from other mines. For sci- 
ence has shown the great advantage of blending in 
the furnace ores of different qualities, which must 
of necessity come from different localities, some- 
times quite distant from each other. A great num- 
ber of mines are worked around this lake, and the 
ores are transported to where there is fuel to smelt 
them. 

74. The Masses of Iron-Ore. — Iron exists 
in detached beds in the east region of the Rocky 
Mountains. In Boulder County, Colorado, the sum- 
mits and sides of some of the hills near where the 
coal-mines are found are partially covered with 
masses of brown iron-ore. We possess perhaps 
more than double the amount of the minerals, coal 
and iron, that is owned by all the other portions 
of the world combined. 

GOLt) AND SILVER. 

75. We come now to treat of the resources of 
the United States in the precious metals, gold and 
silver; yet the world could dispense with them 
much easier than it could with coal and iron c 
There are two distinct gold-fields in the Union; 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 41 

one belonging to the Alleghany range, the other 
to the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains; 
the former very limited in extent and product, 
when compared with the latter. The Alleghany 
field comprises small portions of the States of North 
and South Carolina, Georgia, and Virginia. The 
gold has never been obtained in great quantities 
from this field, but it is thought that, when more 
skill is acquired in extracting it, these deposits will 
be worked to advantage. 

76. Gold and Silver Mines. — " The auriferous 
veins of California are parallel to each other and to 
the Sierra Nevadas, except a few smaller ones. . . . 
These fissures or veins seem to have been all pro- 
duced at the same time, when the Sierra Nevadas 
were pushed up." (Le Conte, p. 201.) In Califor- 
nia, on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, are 
gold-mines — principally in the basins of the San 
Joaquin and Sacramento — while on their eastern 
slope are silver-mines, the richest known. 

77. The Discovery and Result. — In 1848 
gold was discovered by a laborer amid the gravel 
he was digging. The news spread rapidly over the 
country, and to foreign lands. Thousands upon 
thousands flocked to secure the treasure. In a few 
years the "placers," or " diggings," were exhausted. 
Then came the change, when mining and extracting 
gold became a regular industry. All along the 
western slope of the Sierra Nevada, through Cali- 
fornia up to Oregon, and across to the Coast Range, 
are mining districts in the ravines, and extending, 
amid the rocks, sometimes, to the very summits of 



42 NATURAL RESOURCES 

the mountains, wherever gold-bearing quartz is 
found. 

78. Mines, and Modes of Mining. — This 
quartz is laboriously obtained from the veins, be- 
tween walls of hard rock, by drilling and blasting, 
then brought to the stamp-mills, where it is crushed, 
and the gold extracted by the usual process, by the 
application of heat and quicksilver. The amount 
of gold-bearing quartz seems to be limited only by 
the size of the mountains in which it is found, as 
they are pervaded more or less by the veins or fis- 
sures. From year to year the mines, as they are 
worked, run deeper and deeper, and in proportion 
the expense of mining is increased, which is some- 
what compensated by the greater scientific skill now 
employed in extracting the gold from the rock than 
in former times. 

There is certainly room for improvement in this 
respect, and it is hoped ere long discoveries will 
greatly facilitate the process by which the precious 
metals are separated from the quartz in which they 
are imbedded in the vein. It would be tedious 
here to go into detail in describing the numerous 
mining districts that extend for hundreds of miles 
along the west side of the Sierra Nevada, as these 
districts are all very similar in character. . They are 
all sufficiently rich — some more, some less — to en- 
courage working them, yet it appears to cost as 
much labor to earn a dollar from gold-bearing 
quartz as it does from the ordinary industries of the 
land. Such is the order of Providence. 

Gold is also found in Oregon, and in Washing- 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 43 

ton Territory ; but in the latter, especially, the 
mines have not been developed. 

79. Crushing-Mills; Eagle Mountain.— East 
of these gold-fields are those of Idaho Territory, in 
which are many gold deposits that compare favor- 
ably in point of richness with any others in the 
land. The "placers " and gulch-mines have been 
exhausted, and the mining for gold has become a 
permanent industry. Crushing-mills are established, 
and improvements in machinery have been made 
from time to time to crush the quartz. Some of 
the lodes in Idaho contain both gold and silver 
quartz. 

One singular and isolated deposit is known as 
War Eagle Mountain. It rises 2,000 feet above the 
valley, and is about five miles in diameter at the 
base. This is as famed for its extent and richness 
in gold- and silver-bearing quartz as the great 
mountain in Missouri for its iron-ore. These lodes 
contain about two parts of gold to seven of silver. 
They run down into the mountain almost perpen- 
dicularly, but grow wider as they descend. 

80. The Mining Industry. — Colorado has ex- 
tensive lodes of gold-bearing quartz. These run 
far down into the mountain amid the hard rocks. 
Here gold-mining has become an extensive indus- 
try, applying all the facilities afforded by machinery, 
since the placer mines, once so exceedingly rich, 
have become nearly exhausted. Leadville, a moun- 
tain town in this State, is likely to become a rival 
of Virginia City, Nevada, in the production of silver. 
The veins are found to be large, and the ore of a 



44 NATURAL RESOURCES 

high grade, and comparatively easy of access. The 
deposit is very extensive, and new discoveries are 
of frequent occurrence. 

81. Black Hills; Territories farther south. 
— The Territories of Montana and Wyoming have 
both gold-fields, having the same general character- 
istics as those of Idaho. The Black Hills, on the 
eastern border of the latter, are now open to occu- 
pation, and appear to be quite rich in gulch or 
placer mines, and the indications are that the 
" Hills " have also lodes of gold-bearing quartz. 
The same may be said of the gold-fields of the 
Territories farther south, New Mexico and Arizona. 

82. Silver, where found; the Comstock. — 
The State of Nevada stands preeminent in having 
the richest silver-mines in all this region. They lie 
on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, 
and on the western side of the Great Basin. These 
mines produce also gold in combination with the sil- 
ver — the former not nearly in so great proportion. 

The most noted lode of silver-bearing quartz — 
f the Comstock — is by far the richest ever discovered. 
The farther it has been opened, the richer it has 
become. It has been traced already two miles or 
more, is growing wider, and seems to extend indefi- 
nitely. The same may be said of the other lodes 
running almost parallel with it. These lodes run 
down into the mountain, how far none can tell. 
There are nearly one hundred separate companies 
working the " Comstock lode." Within these mines, 
or workings, is no intermission of labor ; it goes on 
by relays, night and day — no Sabbath, no winter, 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 45 

no summer — thousands of burners make this mys- 
terious region as light as day. 

83. The Expense; the "Sutro Tunnel." — 
As the mine becomes deeper, the expense of venti- 
lation, pumping out the water, and raising the ore 
to the surface, increases more and more in the same 
proportion. To obviate these difficulties the " Sutro 
Tunnel " has been made. It enters the mountain 
about 2,000 feet below Virginia City, or the open- 
ing of the mines, and 3,500 feet below the top of 
Mount Davidson, on whose side stands the city. 
The tunnel, nearly five miles long, is to drain and 
ventilate the mines, and take out the ore on a level. 
From the tunnel will be extended branches and gal- 
leries in every direction the lodes may run. What 
will be the effect is yet unknown, but it is thought 
that by these means this immense deposit of silver- 
bearing quartz can now be all reached. 

84. Area of Gold and Silver Fields. — The 
gold and silver fields of the United States occupy 
about 150,000 square miles. This resource of wealth 
has an extensive influence upon the commerce and 
civilization of the world, inasmuch as these precious 
metals are used as a medium of exchange between 
the nations. Their effect is felt to a large extent 
beyond the limits of our own country. 

THE MINOR METALS. 

85. The minor metals, such as platinum, zinc, 
nickel, and others, have thus far been found in the 
United States in limited quantities. Tin-ore has 
recently been discovered, however, in the Black 



46 NATURAL RESOURCES 

Hills of Dakota, and in available quantities for 
mining. The miners, not knowing the character of 
the black stone that troubled them so much in their 
mining for gold, threw it aside as worthless ; but a 
miner from Cornwall, noticing the resemblance of 
the rejected stones to the tin-ore he had seen in 
England, tested them and obtained tin. The ore 
crops out in granitic rocks known to geologists as 
" greisen," and sometimes it is found in crystalline 
bunches inclosed in quartz and mica. The rocks 
in which it is found are particularly free from any 
mineral or impurity, such as sulphur or arsenic, 
that impairs the quality of the tin. The ore 
abounds in regular veins and in deposits of un- 
usual extent and richness ; is cleaner and purer 
than that obtained from the mines of Cornwall, 
being free from mixture with iron, lead, or copper 
pyrites. The area in which this tin-ore is found 
extends for a long distance on both sides of the 
Harney Peak Mountains, the crest of the Black 
Hills. The veins of tin-ore run downward as in 
Cornwall, where the mines are 2,500 feet in depth, 
but the Harney Peak deposits are so much above 
the ordinary level, though running downward, that 
the veins are reached by horizontal tunneling. 
"The heavy crystals of tin-ore separate easily from 
the mica and spar, and are obtained as ' black-tin/ 
ready for smelting, and yielding from the latter 
about 65 per cent of metallic tin." The mine 
known as the Etta appears to have the richest ore 
thus far discovered (1885). 

Tin has been discovered in Massachusetts in one 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 47 

or two places, and in New Hampshire, but not 
available for mining. Zinc is found in New Hamp- 
shire and in New York ; but New Jersey is richer 
in this metal than any other State, and here only 
have the deposits been sufficiently valuable to war- 
rant mining to much extent. There are a number 
of small deposits in Pennsylvania, and in connection 
with some of the Western lead-mines. Nickel has 
been found in small quantities in Connecticut, and 
also in Maryland. Platinum has been discovered 
in Idaho, but in connection with gold-mines. Tel- 
luride is also found in the vicinity of Boulder, in 
Colorado. 

PETROLEUM. 

86. Theories are at fault to account satisfactorily 
for the origin of petroleum. One contends that it 
is produced by a peculiar process of nature where- 
by bituminous coal has been subjected to a high 
temperature, similar to the distillation of coal by 
which the same kind of oil is obtained; another, 
that it is the result of a peculiar decomposition of 
certain organic substances. The writers on the sub- 
ject seem to agree that this oil is the production of 
sea-plants under salt-water, as coal is the production 
of terrestrial vegetation under fresh water, and some 
ascribe these rock-oils to the organic remains which 
lie entombed in the rocks. Geologists speak of the 
" oil-bearing strata " and of their characteristics, 
but they have apparently not as clear data as in 
the case of coal to determine its origin. We are 
told of " the maceration of sea-weeds or marine 
plants, that the tissue or fiber of them has been 



48 NATURAL RESOURCES 

destroyed and pure bitumen preserved by accumu- 
lation in cavities; . . . that bitumen and petro- 
leum are formed from the more perishable cellular 
plants and animals in the presence of salt-water " ; 
and reference is made to the fact that petroleum 
" is often associated with salt," as in West Virginia. 
" The origin of bitumen and petroleum is clearly 
connected with that of coal. " (Le Conte, p. 376.) 

87. Theories and Proofs. — One theory is that 
the bituminous coal was first formed, and afterward, 
by some peculiar alchemy of nature, the bitumen 
was extracted under the form of gas, light oils, 
heavy oils, and finally bitumen itself, under the 
hard form of asphaltum. The second theory is that 
these oils were formed directly from certain organic 
remains in connection with marine plants, or at 
least with some unexplained connection with salt. 

In proof of the first theory is instanced the pro- 
cess by which we can distill bituminous or cannel 
coal, and obtain petroleum ; and of the second that 
this bitumen or oil is found often in connection 
with salt. The latter may be accidental, while the 
coal would seem not to be ; but it may be asked, 
Where are to be found the debris of the seams of 
coal thus distilled in Nature's great laboratory ? 

88. Classification of Oils and the Reser- 
voirs. — There are three classes of oils — the upper, 
middle, and lower : the first are heavier and thicker, 
and most valuable, as their volatile elements have 
escaped through the soil, they being near the sur- 
face ; the middle oils found at a depth of from 300 to 
600 feet are the most abundant ; at this depth they 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 



49 



exist as naphtha; at a still greater depth, more 
than 1,000 feet, the oils exist as gas. (D. and B., 
p. 6 5 6.) 

The strata of rocks in which oil deposits exist 
are horizontal or nearly so, and in their long, ir- 
regular, and sometimes narrow crevices, the oil is 
found in reservoirs like pockets, in which ores are 
often deposited. These reservoirs are not thought to 




Fig. 9. 



be very deep, as the pump in time usually exhausts 
them. When the auger strikes the water first, or 
the oil, if they are in connection with gas, the lat- 
ter's expansion frequently forces them to the sur- 
face ; but if the auger penetrates the gas first, the 
explosion and rush to the surface are often terrific 
in violence. When this pressure of the gas is ex- 
hausted, in order to obtain the oil, the pumps are 
brought into requisition. The water, the oil, and 
the gas arrange themselves in the order of their 
relative specific gravities, as indicated in the figure. 



50 NATURAL RESOURCES 

89. The Oil Districts ; their Area. — The most 
productive region thus far discovered for oil is that 
of northwestern Pennsylvania, where immense quan- 
tities have been obtained in the vicinity of the Alle- 
ghany River, and on its branches. West Virginia 
is also remarkably rich in this product, especially 
in the valley of the Little Kanawha. Oil is found 
in Kentucky, in Michigan, and in northeastern Ohio, 
and likewise in California, " all the way from Los 
Angeles to Cape Mendocino." In Canada, near 
Lake St. Clair, is quite a large area from which oil 
is obtained, having the general properties of that 
found in Pennsylvania. 

Throughout these regions there are very nu- 
merous localities where oil may be found, and wells 
as rich perhaps as any that have hitherto been 
worked. The finding of rich reservoirs of oil is 
quite uncertain, yet when found the flow is frequent- 
ly very copious. Geology tells us that the " oil- 
bearing strata of rocks " in the United States cover 
an area of about 200,000 square miles. There 
would seem, by this statement, to be held in re- 
serve a wealth of oil practically unlimited ; and, as 
in the past, so in the future, we may expect it to be 
found just at the time it is most needed. 

LEAD. 

90. Lead is found in many portions of the 
Union, often occurring in veins and in connection 
with other metals, especially copper and silver, and 
sometimes between strata of limestone. This metal 
is found in limited quantities along the Atlantic 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 51 

slope in the vicinity. of the highlands from Maine 
to North Carolina. But all these deposits are very 
small compared with the lead-fields, as they may 
be termed, of the Mississippi Valley. One of these, 
having an area of about 4,800 square miles, occu- 
pies a portion of three States — Wisconsin, Illinois, 
and Iowa. Galena, a city in the second-named 
State, is the most important locality of this mining 
region; here would seem to be lead sufficient to 
supply the country for an indefinite time ; copper 
is also found to some extent in connection with 
this deposit of lead-ore. The ore is so abundant 
that it was first discovered imbedded in the soil, 
and so lightly that plowmen frequently turned 
lumps of it up in the fields. The surface ore was 
soon exhausted ; and the veins are now traced and 
drilled far underground, and the ore, when loosened 
by blasting with gunpowder, is brought to the sur- 
face by the miners. 

Directly south of these are the mines of Missouri 
and Arkansas. Those in the latter State have not 
been much developed. In the former, the most 
important center is the lead-mining village of 
Grandley, in the southwest portion of the State, 
on the Atlantic and Pacific Railway. Here is a 
vast deposit of lead-ore, but to reach it shafts are 
sunk quite deep ; the great richness of the ore fully 
compensates for this extra expense of shafts, and 
for freeing the mines of water. 

COPPER. 

91. This metal is often found in a pure state, 
6 



52 NATURAL RESOURCES 

and also as ore combined with foreign substances, 
such as sulphur or oxygen. In North Carolina cop- 
per is found more abundantly than in any other 
State east of the Mississippi ; though it is scattered 
in very limited quantities along the eastern slope 
of the Alleghanies. It is also found to some extent 
in California, and in some of the Western Territo- 
ries, especially in Idaho. 

The great copper-field of the Union, however, 
belongs to the State of Michigan, in that portion 
known as the Upper Peninsula, bordering on Lake 
Superior. Here are found vast masses of native or 
pure copper; yet this, from its very pureness, is more 
difficult to obtain in quantities that can be handled, 
than that which is smelted from the ordinary ore. 
First the mass of pure copper must be dislodged 
by tremendous blasts of gunpowder, or some other 
explosive — but copper does not break to pieces by 
the explosion ; it only tears — and then it must be 
cut away by means of long chisels. 

92. Isle Royale Mines. — Lake Superior, among 
its numerous islands, has a very remarkable one — 
Isle Royale — belonging to the United States. It 
is forty-five miles long, and on an average twelve 
miles wide; for the most part rising out of the 
water in a bluff 300 feet high. It has some long 
and narrow inlets, worn deep into this rocky wall ; 
these inlets serve for harbors. This island is ex- 
ceedingly rich in copper, found here sometimes 
almost pure, and in masses often weighing a hun- 
dred tons. Many of these mines are very exten- 
sively worked, some extending into the bluff more 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 53 

than half a mile. The copper of this State would 
seem to be almost inexhaustible. The north shore 
of Lake Superior, in Canada, is also very rich in 
copper as well as in iron ore. 

MERCURY OR QUICKSILVER. 

93. We have noticed, in treating of the deposits 
of iron, how often the coal and limestone were 
found near by to smelt the ore, and thus in Cali- 
fornia, near her gold and silver mines, we see an- 
other striking instance of the same principle in the 
economy that the Creator has instituted. We al- 
lude to the quicksilver-mines known as the New 
Almaden ; these are situated on the inside of the 
Coast Hills, about twelve miles southeast of San 
Jose. This metal is as necessary in obtaining the 
precious metal from the gold-bearing quartz as 
coal and limestone for obtaining iron from the ore. 
Quicksilver is used under certain conditions for ex- 
tracting the gold, as it has for this metal such an 
affinity as to seize it with the grip of the miser; 
and as death can only make the latter let go his 
grasp, so intense heat can only make the quick- 
silver give up its gold. 

94. The Mine and the Ore prepared. — 
These mines are the richest in the world. This 
vein of ore runs far down into the earth, and is 
reached by a perpendicular shaft ; the vein is fol- 
lowed thousands of feet by the miners, who have 
opened galleries in all directions. The ore is 
brought up the shaft in buckets of large size, in 



54 NATURAL RESOURCES 

which, in primitive style, the miners also pass up 
and down. 

This peculiar ore or cinnabar is a reddish sul- 
phate of mercury or quicksilver, having the dull- 
red color of bricks. The ore is crushed and pre- 
pared in such a manner as to be molded into blocks ; 
these are arranged, with spaces between, in ovens 
or kilns, and then are subjected to intense heat, 
which in the form of flame passes between the 
blocks, and decomposes the ore, causing the quick- 
silver to exude from the earthy matter in the form 
of vapor. This vapor passes into a chamber de- 
signed for the purpose, and when cooling condenses 
on its walls ; then trickles down the sides into chan- 
nels, which convey it into a reservoir, from which 
it is drawn off into iron flasks — glass could not bear 
the weight. The quicksilver is then ready for 
market. Mercury is also necessary in extracting 
silver from the ore, as it has a strong affinity for 
that metal. 

The production of quicksilver is quite limited ; 
in addition to a number of places in California, 
there are indications of its existence in several 
places within the gold and silver fields of the 
United States; otherwise it is found in workable 
quantities only in Peru, Spain, and Austria. 

GRAPHITE OR PLUMBAGO. 

95. This substance is one of the forms of car- 
bon, sometimes containing iron ; originally called 
black-lead, because it made a dark mark, some- 
what like lead. It is found, but in very limited 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 55 

quantities, at Sturbridge, North Brookfield, *and 
Hinsdale, Massachusetts, and in some other places, 
as at Brandon, Vermont, Ridgebury, Connecticut, 
and in Wake County, North Carolina. There is 
an unusually large mine of graphite in the vicinity 
of Ticonderoga, New York ; the only one in the 
Union thus far discovered that warrants mining to 
much extent, unless it may be the Eureka mine in 
Sonora, California, as the ore or substance is so 
likely, as the miners say, "to run out." One of 
the most noted mines in the Old World is in Cum- 
berlandshire, England, said to be now about ex- 
hausted, as it has supplied nearly all the world for 
more than a hundred years; there is also one in 
Ceylon, of coarse graphite alone, and an extensive 
deposit in northeastern Siberia. 

96. The Two Kinds of Plumbago. — The 
mine at Ticonderoga is unusually rich in having 
the two kinds — the coarse for making crucibles and 
the fine for making pencils. These are separated by 
a thin partition of rock ; the fine being of smaller 
quantity, and in isolated places called pockets by 
the miners. The plumbago is taken out from be- 
tween these walls of gneiss rocks, to remove which 
requires extensive blasting and great labor. In 
this mine the vein runs down into the earth at an 
angle of forty-five degrees, and has been already 
followed some hundreds of feet. 

The graphite found here is remarkable for its 
superior properties ; it is said no other mine in the 
world produces so pure an article in its natural 
state. This material is used extensively for other 



56 



NATURAL RESOURCES 



purposes than making crucibles and pencils ; such 
as for dry lubrication, as in the action of the piano 




Fig. io. — Section of Graphite Mine at Ticonderoga, New York. 

and the organ, or in any wooden surfaces that in 
action move over each other. 

We have thus in abundance the materials for 
making graphite or lead pencils, as nature has also 
given to certain swamps of Florida the monopoly 
of the world in producing the peculiarly fine-grained 
cedar used in the manufacture of all grades of fine 
pencils, both in this country and in Europe. The 
United States have the largest establishment in the 
world for making pencils. 



SLATE. 

97. The principal quarries of slate in the Union 
are in the States of Pennsylvania, New York, and 
Vermont. The first furnishes a slate of fine texture, 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 57 

dark gray, and of other colors, and adapted for use 
in schools, and for many other purposes. 

The slate-quarries of New York border on those 
of Vermont, and the slates of both partake of the 
same general characteristics, being of the finest 
quality. The purposes to which slate has been ap- 
plied within recent years are almost innumerable : 
such as for sinks, tanks, roofing, beds for billiard- 
tables, etc. The most interesting process, however, 
to which it is subjected is when it is enameled in 
imitation of variegated marble, to be used as arti- 
cles of furniture. It is thus made very beautiful, 
and so finished as never to be affected by tem- 
perature or climate ; but even under ordinary cir- 
cumstances it preserves its freshness and brilliancy 
of color. Vermont has a quarry of a soft, drab- 
colored slate, much used for slate and other pencils. 
These are made by machinery, and turned out, 
shaped, and sharpened, by millions. 

GRANITE, BROWN AND DRAB SANDSTONE, AND 
MARBLE. 

98. The finest granite in the United States is 
found in vast quantities in Massachusetts and New 
Hampshire ; and there are also quarries of fair 
granite, but of limited extent, in Maine, Rhode Isl- 
and, and Virginia, while the coarser varieties are 
found in a great number of localities. The most 
valuable quarries in Massachusetts are at Quincy 
and on Cape Ann. That obtained here has been 
used much by the National Government for public 
buildings, and for docks in the navy-yards. Great 



58 NATURAL RESOURCES 

numbers of the municipal and other public build- 
ings in the cities on the Atlantic slope have been 
constructed of this material, as it has been quite 
accessible by water. 

The Granite State is specially rich in this du- 
rable stone, and, though it is farther inland, the 
stone is sent from the interior of the State by rail- 
way to the cities, to be used in buildings. The 
stones are taken from the quarry, and dressed by 
machinery and by hand ; each block, large or small, 
jointed and fitted to the proper shape and dimen- 
sion, and ready to be laid in the wall, according to 
the directions of the architect of the building ; then, 
the sharp edges having been protected by wooden 
clamps, these finished blocks are sent to the point 
of destination. This plan of leaving the debris at 
the quarry saves an immense amount of extra ex- 
pense in transportation. Granite and marble fur- 
nish nearly all the ornaments in the cemeteries of 
the country. 

99. Sandstone for Buildings ; how dressed. 
— Vast deposits of brown sandstone are in the val- 
ley of the Connecticut, and in the State of New Jer- 
sey ; from these the neighboring cities derive their 
"brown-stone fronts." The best quality of this 
stone is durable when exposed to the atmosphere, 
and is unchanging in color. The same facilities 
as in the case of granite are brought into requisi- 
tion for dressing this stone at the quarries. There 
are also large deposits of coarse marble, suitable 
for building purposes, in Westchester County, New 
York. Much of it is used in the Metropolis. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 59 

ioo. A Gray Limestone and a Drab Sand- 
stone. — At Lockport, in the same State, is an 
abundance of building-stone — a peculiar gray lime- 
stone, which is very easily worked when taken from 
the quarry, but when exposed to the air becomes hard 
and does not change its color. It is also dressed by 
machinery, saws of a peculiar kind being used, by 
means of which the joints are perfectly made. Its 
fine texture, imperishable nature, and pleasing color 
have caused it to be much used for building pur- 
poses, and ornamentation or trimmings, especially 
for houses built of brick. 

In Ohio and several other Western States are 
quarries of a sandstone of a drab color, used for the 
purpose of building. This stone is often brought 
East, even within the neighborhood of granite itself 
for the purpose of trimmings or ornamentation, as 
the color harmonizes well with that of the brick. 

Upon the whole, the United States are fur- 
nished, at convenient points, with an abundance of 
building-stone of various grades. 

MARBLE. 

ioi. The marble of Vermont is unquestionably 
the finest in the Union. A remarkable series of 
detached deposits of this stone, and of various grades 
of excellence, runs entirely across the State from 
south to north, the finest portion being in the vicin- 
ity of Rutland. The veins or deposits of good 
marble are nowhere very large. Usually that which 
is the deepest down in the bed is the purest and 
of the finest texture. Some of this is very white 



60 NATURAL RESOURCES 

and suitable for statuary, but it is not in large 
masses, nor in continuous veins. A very large 
amount of the marble used in the Union for furni- 
ture and fancy work comes from Vermont. 

102. Liability to Injury. — Fine marble is very 
delicate in its texture, and liable to be jarred and 
cracked and permanently injured by blows of the 
tools in getting it out of the beds ; hence ingenuity 
has invented diamond-toothed saws, which, driven 
by machinery, and guided, run horizontally or other- 
wise, cutting out the marble without injuring it by 
the concussion — the impure stone or earth having 
been first removed from the edge of the marble to 
be cut out. Quarries of black marble are also 
found in Vermont, and in Pennsylvania, near Wil- 
liamsport. 

GYPSUM, WHETSTONES, KAOLIN, AND GLASS- 
SAND. 

103. Gypsum of a coarse kind is found in great 
quantities in Michigan, and it is also found in Ar- 
kansas, but in the latter State the quality is remark- 
ably fine ; it is white as snow, and known as ala- 
baster. In this State, in the vicinity of the famous 
Hot Springs, is an extensive deposit of the peculiar 
stone from which hones are made for sharpening 
razors or tools requiring a very fine edge. This 
whetstone is fashioned to some extent at the quarry, 
but the greater part is sent elsewhere, principally 
to New Albany, Indiana, to be manufactured. The 
harder varieties of this fine-grained stone are also 
used extensively by engravers. 



OF THE UNITED STATES, 61 

Kaolin, for making porcelain, is found in differ- 
ent portions of the Union, especially in Vermont 
and North Carolina; the latter has also valuable 
ledges where mica is found in large quantities. 

Sand for making glass is obtained from deposits 
in large amounts in many places. On the Youghi- 
ogheny River, forty miles from Pittsburg, are im- 
mense ledges of sandstone; when this is ground, 
and the pulverized matter washed, the result is a 
beautiful white sand used for making glass. 

SALT. 

104. Salt is found more or less in several States 
of the Union, but in only three or four places in 
such quantities as to warrant extensive works for 
its manufacture. In the vicinity of Syracuse, New 
York, are the most important salt-works in the 
United States. The water is pumped up from ap- 
parently inexhaustible underground lakes of brine, 
which do not seem to be weakened by the vast 
amount of water drawn up from year to year. Im- 
mense reservoirs — covering more than fifty acres — 
are filled from the wells during the winter, to be in 
readiness for spring, when the boiling and evaporat- 
ing begin. 

Salt-water is found in Michigan in several places. 
The most prominent wells are in the Saginaw Basin ; 
they produce an abundance of brine that yields 80 
per cent. salt. The water is reached at the depth of 
800 feet. 

In the northwestern portion of Kansas are na- 
tive springs of salt-water of excellent quality, and 



62 NATURAL RESOURCES 

in great abundance ; the brine yields a large per- 
centage of salt. 

West Virginia has been famed for extensive salt- 
wells in the valley of the Great Kanawha. These 
wells are very rich in quality and in the amount of 
salt produced ; it is here manufactured at a small 
expense comparatively, owing to the cheapness of 
coal, which is both abundant and near at hand. 
Texas has vast deposits of rock-salt, and Arkansas 
salt-springs. 

MARL AND PHOSPHATES. 

105. One of our natural resources is in having 
materials at hand to enrich the soil and prevent its 
losing the power of producing crops, or becoming 
exhausted by excessive planting or sowing. The 
vast abundance of limestone, that seems to exist 
almost everywhere, and whose elements penetrate 
the native soil, is likewise extensively used as a 
fertilizer in the form of lime. Other materials for 
enriching the soil and producing fine crops have 
also been found and brought into extensive use, 
such as marl and phosphates of lime. 

106. Marls and Phosphate-Rock. — New 
Jersey has vast deposits of marl along the eastern 
portion, lying at a short distance from the ocean. 
This is one of the finest manures in the world, being 
suitable for almost every crop of the garden or the 
field, the orchard or the meadow. In some places 
dredges driven by steam scoop up this marl and 
drop it into cars at a rapid rate, to be conveyed 
where needed. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 63 

South Carolina has immense beds of marl; they 
commence only a few feet below the surface, but 
extend down for hundreds of feet; they are esti- 
mated to cover 100 square miles. These beds 
extend along the coast in what is termed the low 
country. This marl is of an extraordinary fine 
quality, 90 per cent, of it being a carbonate of 
lime ; but still more remarkable is the layer of 
"marl-stone," or "phosphate-rock," which covers 
this marl. The average of phosphate of lime in 
this rock is 60 per cent. 

In this deposit are imbedded the bones and re- 
mains of marine and fresh-water animals, in enor- 
mous quantities ; these bones appear to be a con- 
centration of the phosphate of lime, which is deemed, 
when properly prepared, one of the very best fer- 
tilizers. This source of wealth has only recently 
been discovered and brought into use. There are 
numerous deposits of marl more or less extensive 
in different portions of the Union, but none so im- 
portant as these just mentioned. 

MINERAL SPRINGS. 

107. The United States have quite a number 
of mineral or medicinal springs ; these are found in 
a number of the States. Of New England perhaps 
Vermont has the greatest number, though none of 
them produce large quantities of water ; they have 
a fair reputation because of the remedies they pro- 
vide for special diseases. 

New York State is quite eminent for sulphur 

springs, as at Richfield, Sharon, Avon, and Clifton, 
7 



64 NATURAL RESOURCES 

the latter affording an abundance of water from 
several springs. Those of Saratoga are the most 
striking, as they are peculiar in many respects ; they 
being an attraction because of the medicinal virtues 
of their waters, which of themselves are both pala- 
table and refreshing. The visitors find pleasure in 
drinking them for their own sake, as they come 
bubbling up, cool, clear, and sparkling, forced to 
the surface from unknown depths by the pressure 
of gas. The waters of one or two of the springs, 
however, are so unpleasant to the taste, and so 
medicinal, as to be used only as remedies. There 
are about fifteen springs in Saratoga proper ; a mile 
or two toward the northeast, down the valley, are 
ten more, and at about the same distance toward 
the southwest are four valuable wells, the water 
obtained by boring one or two hundred feet. The 
waters of no two of these springs or wells are pre- 
cisely alike, but all have more or less soda. 

108. Sulphur and Alum Springs. — Virginia 
and West Virginia have a large number of springs ; 
in these sulphur predominates as an ingredient; 
but no two are absolutely alike, either in their 
properties or in their temperature. In some of 
these springs alum is the chief ingredient. They 
are eminently medicinal in their character, and are 
not attractive for their pleasant taste ; but they are 
said to be unsurpassed in their health-restoring 
properties in certain diseases. 

109. What is said of the Hot Springs and 
others. — The Hot Springs of Arkansas are deemed 
purely medicinal, and have a great reputation for 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 65 

their healing properties. They are fifty-seven in 
number, and afford an abundant supply of water — 
about 350 gallons a minute — the temperature of 
which ranges from 95 to 150 Fahr. ; this renders 
them very effective by means of baths in relieving 
certain ailments, especially those that are rheu- 
matic or scrofulous. The narrow valley into which 
the springs flow from the side of the mountain is at 
an elevation of 1,500 feet above the sea. 

In many portions of the country are medi- 
cinal springs, having a local reputation, more or 
less, for their healing properties, but each of these, 
for the most part, furnishes water in comparatively 
limited quantities. 

HEALTH RESORTS. 

1 10. As long as the human system is liable to 
become weakened by disease, health resorts will 
be fraught with blessings to large numbers, and in 
addition an advantage to the whole country. A 
good effect incidentally derived from them is the 
occasion they give for more intercourse among the 
people of different portions of the Union, and unit- 
ing them in bonds of acquaintance and friendship ; 
a very important element in a government like ours, 
spread over such a great extent of territory and with 
so many diversified interests. This is a resource 
whose value is not to be estimated in the ordinary 
way. 

Change of air even, in many circumstances, is 
sometimes essential for the recuperation of ex- 
hausted strength, and for recreation, needed be- 



66 NATURAL RESOURCES 

cause of hard labor, mental or otherwise. For more 
serious maladies, in addition to mineral springs, 
the United States has several recognized health 
resorts. 

in. Aiken and Florida. — Upon the Atlantic 
coast and slope are three noted Health Resorts : a 
district in Florida, a portion of the uplands in west- 
ern South Carolina, and in southwestern North Caro- 
lina. The center of the second may be said to be at 
Aiken and vicinity. In this elevated region — about 
700 feet above the sea, and very dry and sandy — is 
a climate mild, healthy, and balmy during the win- 
ter. The balsamic odors of the pines are said to 
impart to the atmosphere a peculiar healing power. 
This village, in connection with the region roun<J 
about for many miles, is much visited by inva- 
lids from the Northern portion of the country, in 
order to avoid the harsh winds of their own homes. 
The number of these visitors during the winter 
months is about one fifth the whole population of 
Aiken ; and this number is increasing from year to 
year. 

In the valley of the French Broad River, at an 
elevation of some 2,000 feet above the ocean, stands 
the pleasant village of Asheville, North Carolina. 
Lying between the Alleghanies and the Blue Ridge, 
it is famed for the beauty of the surrounding hills 
and mountains. The climate of this whole region 
is mild, dry, and equable, suited for those afflicted 
with pulmonary complaints. The village itself and 
the adjacent district are much resorted to during 
the summer by invalids ; in the winter, also, this dry, 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 67 

cool climate is found to be invigorating to patients 
suffering under certain forms of lung-disease. 

A still greater number of invalids resort to 
Florida ; and several villages and rural places have 
been made prosperous by this advent of health- 
seekers, and of others who, though not absolutely 
invalids, but somewhat enfeebled, have sought a 
milder climate. Multitudes of the latter, on be- 
coming permanent citizens, have invested capital 
in ordinary business, or in fruit-growing. 

The climate is remarkably equable : owing, as it 
is thought, to the nearness of the Gulf Stream, it is 
mild in winter ; so, comparatively, is it cool in sum- 
mer, owing to the influence of a cold in-shore cur- 
rent from the north. The air is deliciously fresh and 
balmy. This pleasant region, by the power of steam, 
can be reached within a day or two from the snow 
and ice and bleak skies of the North. Many thou- 
sands of invalids avail themselves of this delightful 
climate, especially those having pulmonary com- 
plaints, and perhaps as many others for relaxation 
from the cares of business or of mental toil, or for 
mere pleasure. 

112. A Dry and Cold Climate.— Some inva- 
lids find that, for themselves, this health resort is 
debilitating, and they seek a climate the very re- 
verse — the higher latitude, the dry and cool atmos- 
phere of Minnesota and the adjacent region. There, 
apparently in as many cases, the invalid finds relief 
from the same disease. The dry and still atmos- 
phere in winter, the bright skies, but severe cold, 
render the climate so exhilarating that it may be 



68 NATURAL RESOURCES 

deemed almost a never-failing antidote to pulmo- 
nary diseases, especially in the earlier stages of such 
complaints. The dry and pure cold air induces an 
unusual appetite for plain, substantial food, which, 
by its ready assimilation, strengthens the system 
and thrills it with the spirit of life. This climate, 
upon the whole, is bracing, never debilitating. 

113. Sunshine, Altitude, and Dry Climate. 
— Colorado is recognized as a health resort, espe- 
cially in the vicinity of Denver, and in some of the 
mountains distant from seventy to one hundred 
miles toward the south. The climate is comparative- 
ly dry ; it is so far from both the oceans, that the 
clouds are nearly exhausted before they reach this 
State, except in the winter and spring months. This 
resort is proverbial for the many days of the year 
which have cloudless skies and continuous sunshine. 
The winters are mild ; snow falling but lightly, and 
cold days being but few. Under certain conditions 
this climate is deemed remarkably genial for invalids ; 
it differs from that of Florida in the effect that the 
altitude has upon it, though the temperature is not 
so mild. Consumptives in the earlier stages of the 
disease are usually much benefited, if not cured. 

114. A Balmy Air near the Ocean.— South- 
em California has been described as almost a uni- 
versal health resort, or sanitarium. Santa Barbara 
and vicinity are specially named as a desirable land 
for the invalid. The town stands on a somewhat 
narrow plain, looking out on the Pacific, while in 
the background, on the north, are mountains from 
three to four thousand feet high. These effectually 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 69 

shut off the" cold north and northwest winds, thus 
protecting that limited region. The temperature is 
remarkably equable, a feature of the climate de- 
sirable for invalids, to whom sudden changes are 
specially injurious. In the little indentations along 
the coast and the small valleys extending from the 
ocean, are found sites for residences, very delightful 
because of this mild and balmy air. 

The northwest winds and fogs, that are so harsh 
and penetrating farther up the coast, do not prevail 
here. It is thought this region will become one of 
the greatest Health Resorts in the Union. Numbers 
of persons in feeble health, and, with constitutions 
weakened by disease, go there to remain and enjoy 
thebalminess of the atmosphere ; while thousands of 
those not blessed, naturally, with vigorous constitu- 
tions, but with energy of purpose, are going from 
time to time from the harsher climate of other por- 
tions of the Union to become citizens in these dif- 
ferent healthful localities. 

SOIL AND RAINFALL. 

115. Among the valuable resources of a country 
ought to be included a good climate and a fertile 
soil : these combined are of vast importance in pro- 
moting the health, success, and comfort of the peo- 
ple. This resource can not be reckoned at a mere 
money value, but it is not the less valuable, nor is it 
less appreciated by the observing political econo- 
mist. 

The United States, lying within the temperate 
zone, has a diversified surface and a diversified 



70 NATURAL RESOURCES. 

climate, but, in proportion to the extent of area, no 
more than other countries. 

116. The Rich Soil ; its Available Value.— 

The fertility of she soil in the Union, taken as a 
whole, is remarkably great. With the exception of 
a few rough mountains, nearly all of which are 
storehouses of the metals and coal, there is scarcely 
an acre throughout this wide domain that can not be 
cultivated in grain or in grasses for cattle or sheep. 
The other portion of the soil that is underlaid by 
coal — at least 150,000 square miles — is peculiarly 
rich, and of itself is a source of wealth much more 
in the end than the coal beneath it. Everywhere 
the value of the soil is incalculable, and the people 
can secure its fertility and productiveness for ever- 
more by their diligence and care. 

117. The Abundance of Rain. — Next in im- 
portance to the fertility of the soil may be deemed 
the rainfall, as the value of the former would be 
little indeed, if not enhanced by the latter. 

We find the rainfall of the United States, upon 
the whole, abundant and uniform ; but over such an 
extent of territory it would naturally be greater in 
some sections than in others, and different in differ- 
ent years, though when the entire area of the coun- 
try is considered both the uniform amount of rain 
and the degree of temperature are quite striking. 

118. Comparison of the Rainfall on the 
Atlantic Slope and in the Mississippi Valley. — 
Observations taken for a number of years show that 
in the spring months — when rain is specially needed 
— at 30 north latitude, the average rainfall is twelve 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 71 

inches; from 35 to 42 , eleven and ten inches on 
the Atlantic slope; in the Mississippi Valley, for 
the like period and same latitude, the average is 
fifteen, thirteen, and twelve inches. The spring 
and summer rains have the greatest effect upon 
vegetation and the products of the soil. In the 
summer especially, the rainfall in the Great Valley 
exceeds considerably that on the Atlantic slope in 
the same latitudes. The line of fifteen inches aver- 
age rainfall during the summer extends only to 
the thirty- eighth degree of latitude on the Atlantic 
slope ; yet it reaches to the forty-fourth in the Valley. 

The annual average of rainfall in the entire Val- 
ley is about forty-four inches, or three feet eight 
inches (Blodget) ; on the Atlantic slope the average 
is not so great, but on the immediate coast it is 
about the same. This discrimination — so to speak 
— in favor of the Great Valley is very striking, as 
it is and must ever be the granary of the nation. 
Its native fertility — so much enhanced by a copious 
rainfall — is almost incredible to those who have 
never seen it, and, in addition, there is scarcely an 
acre of its area that can not be cultivated. It may 
be remarked that the annual average rainfall of Eu- 
rope is only twenty-four inches, as ascertained from 
the statistics of seventeen cities. 

119. Rain on the Pacific Slope. — The same 
abundance of rainfall is on the Pacific coast, espe- 
cially in Washington Territory and Oregon ; in the 
northern part of the latter the annual average is 
forty-four inches; at San Francisco it varies from 
twenty-three to thirty inches, according to some 



72 NATURAL RESOURCES 

authorities. The greatest part of the rain in this 
region is during the spring, thus making the wheat 
crop grow vigorously ; then comes the dry season 
of summer, which matures the grain in a manner 
equally remarkable. 

1 20. The After-Blessings of the Rain. — The 
blessings of this heavy rainfall do not end only in 
making abundant the products of the soil, but the 
earth also stores the water ; and the United States is 
made a land of pure springs and crystal brooks — 
far superior in this respect to any other. Nowhere, 
especially in the Great Valley, can one fail to find 
clear and sparkling water by sinking a well of suffi- 
cient depth. The water falling within the Valley 
upon a level plain or moderately undulating surface, 
does not flow off rapidly, but penetrates the earth, 
and there remains to sustain the grass and grain, 
and to be found when sought. 

121. The Current and Evaporation. — We 
leave to the meteorologist to explain fully nature's 
process, by which seed-time and harvest is assured 
to the Great Valley. Yet this much may be said 
of the advantage it derives from an ocean-current, 
which, passing from the west coast of Africa, flows 
across the Atlantic into the Gulf of Mexico, out of 
which, as the Gulf Stream, it rushes northeastward 
between Cuba and Florida, bearing with it the 
warmth that makes the mild climate of western 
Europe. The special benefit which the Valley re- 
ceives comes from the immense amount of water 
which rises in the form of vapor from off this warm 
ocean-current, heated as it is to about 8o° Fahren- 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 73 

heit, by passing some 3,000 miles under a tropical 
sun. It is estimated that this vapor carries into 
the air annually fifteen feet of water in the form of 
vapor, from off a belt of the ocean more than 3,000 
miles wide. (Maury, p. 102.) Much of this vapor 
is carried by the trade-winds toward the west, till 
they come in contact with the highlands of Mexico; 
thence, as the theory is, a portion being deflected 
northward, follows up the valley of the Mississippi 
and those of its tributaries. Meeting with a cooler 
atmosphere, these vapors are gradually condensed 
to clouds, which from time to time pour down their 
blessings in abundant rains. These are the pledges 
the Creator has given that the Valley will always 
be fertile, and seed-time and harvest will never fail. 
122. Buffalo-Grass ; the Change of Climate. 
— About midway, and west of that point, between 
the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains, the prai- 
ries, in their original state, are covered with buffalo- 
grass, which seeds in its root. These roots are not 
deep in the earth, and when turned over by the 
plow, they die, decompose, and become a valuable 
fertilizer of the soil, and give place to cultivated 
grasses. The roots of the buffalo-grass are so com- 
pact and matted that the rain scarcely reaches the 
ground, but runs off as if from a roof; but, when 
the soil is plowed and cultivated, the water pene- 
trates the earth, and feeds the crops. At Fort 
Riley, near the junction of latitude forty and the 
one hundredth meridian west, the average annual 
rainfall is twenty-four inches (Guyot). This por- 
tion of the prairies, a quarter of a century ago, was 



74 NATURAL RESOURCES 

deemed valueless for cultivation; now it has become 
a great source of wealth, as is evidenced in the 
abundant crops of wheat and other grains harvested 
from year to year. In addition, it is found that in 
this section a change of climate is going on, and 
the rainfall is gradually increasing, as the lands are 
brought under cultivation. The earth now retains 
more moisture, both from the rain and dew, since 
the water penetrates the soil deeper along the roots 
of the grass and grain. On the plains in eastern 
Colorado, the rains mostly come in the spring and 
early summer ; and the amount that annually falls 
is from twelve to eighteen inches. The buffalo- 
grass is retreating westward before the farmer at 
the rate of about five miles a year, on a line run- 
ning north and south. 

123. Irrigation ; Effect on the Alkali of the 
Soil. — In the regions nearer and along the east and 
west slopes of the Rocky Mountains, and on the 
eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada, the rainfall is 
comparatively light, and irrigation is much em- 
ployed in order to produce crops, the water for 
which is obtained in abundance from those inex- 
haustible reservoirs — the melting snows in the moun- 
tains. The soil of the regions just mentioned is 
impregnated with alkali to such an extent that it 
was thought to be an insuperable barrier to their cul- 
tivation. Experience, however, has demonstrated 
that water has a marvelous effect in decomposing 
the alkali and converting it into a fertilizer. 

124. Advantage derived from Two Oceans. 
— The territory of the United States, extending as 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 75 

it does from the Atlantic to the Pacific, is narrow- 
when compared with the combined width of Asia 
and Europe. On the parallel of forty degrees the 
difference is about 5,000 statute miles, and on the 
parallel of forty-four degrees it is about 4,500. 
The area of the United States has the advantage 
derived from the evaporation off both oceans, as 
they are apart on the thirty-second parallel about 
2,640 statute miles; on the fortieth parallel, 2,862 
miles; and on the parallel of forty-two, 2,675. The 
Great Valley, as has been noted, is specially open 
on the south to the vapors brought by the trade- 
winds over the Gulf of Mexico, while on its north- 
ern border lie the waters of the Great Lakes. In 
consequence of the proximity of these oceans, the 
United States have no such dry areas of territory 
as are found in some portions of the Old World ; 
neither do they have mountains so high as to im- 
pede totally the vapors off the ocean from passing 
over them and descending in rain. 

climate. 

125. The climate of the United States has been 
described as " uniformly variable," and the extremes 
of heat and cold in certain portions are great, yet 
the climate is admitted by all to be healthy. The 
eastern portion is not as mild within the same 
parallels as the western, for the Atlantic slope, 
especially in its northern part, is more or less sub- 
ject to the harsh northeast winds from off the inner 
cold currents along the coast, while the balmy winds 

from off the comparatively warm waters of the Pa- 
8 



76 NATURAL RESOURCES 

cific have their influence upon the western slope. 
The mild and even temperature of the Great Valley 
is quite remarkable. It being open at both ends, 
north and south, the warm winds from off the Gulf 
— which seem to follow up the Mississippi and its 
tributaries — moderate the cold of the northern por- 
tion, and in turn the summer heat of the southern 
part is moderated by cool winds from the north. 
The equable temperature of the waters of the Great 
Lakes has also a softening influence upon the cli- 
mate of the northern portion of the Valley. Thus 
in the main its climate should not, at any time, be 
classed as oppressive, as these modifying influences 
exert their power usually within twenty-four hours. 

126. Influence of the Northwestern Cli- 
mate. — More than this, the warm winds that find 
their way from off the Pacific and through the gaps 
of the Rocky Mountains, moderate the temperature 
of all the region of the Northwestern States and 
Territories. Even on the Saskatchewan, latitude 
51 north, in the British Possessions, the average 
temperature of summer is the same as that of New 
Haven, Connecticut — ten degrees farther south — 
and the average temperature of the winter on that 
river is the same as that at Plattsburg, New York — 
six degrees fifteen minutes farther south. This fact 
is cited because the mild climate of that region has 
a beneficial influence upon the general temperature 
of the States and Territories directly south of it. 

At Fort Benton, in Montana, on the upper Mis- 
souri — 48 north latitude and ni° west longitude — 
the average temperature for the season of spring is 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 77 

the same as at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania — eight degrees 
farther south — and the middle portion of New Jer- 
sey ; for the summer, the same as at New York City ; 
for autumn, the same as at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, 
and at Providence, Rhode Island; and for winter, 
the same as at Oswego, New York, and New Haven, 
Connecticut. The influence of this comparatively 
mild climate is seen in the large production of the 
native grasses and wild fruits of all that region. 

127. Comparisons of Temperature on the 
Pacific Slope, and the Probable Result.— The 
mildness of the climate still farther west is much 
more remarkable, as it is influenced directly by the 
winds from off the Pacific ; in the same manner the 
climate of western Europe is modified by the winds 
from off the Atlantic — the one heated by the warm 
waters of the Kuro Sivo or Japan Current, and the 
other by the warm waters of the Gulf Stream. At 
the straits of Fuca, in the northwest of Washington 
Territory, latitude 48 30' north, ice is almost un- 
known ; and flowers, housed in the Middle States 
during the winter, bloom here in the open air the 
year through. At Sitka (57 north), in Alaska, the 
average temperature is very nearly the same as that 
at Washington, District of Columbia — 39 north; 
and on Puget Sound — 48 north — the winters are 
as mild as they are at Norfolk, Virginia — 37 ° north. 
The same influence is felt down the coast as far as 
San Francisco. 

These warm winds penetrate the gaps of the 
Rocky Mountains and influence the climate for 
hundreds of miles east of them. It may be reason- 



7 S NATURAL RESOURCES 

ably expected that in time the northwest portion 
of the United States, including British Columbia, 
will become as densely populated as the correspond- 
ing portions of Europe, since the former is equally 
blessed with a fertile soil, warm winds, and moisture. 

PRODUCTS OF THE SOIL. 

128. We have seen the resources of the United 
States as stored within the earth, and it may be 
fitting to notice what is derived from its surface — 
the soil — as a national source of much greater wealth 
and comfort. The soil of the United States, taken 
as a whole, is remarkably fertile, and throughout 
the entire extent of the cultivated portions of the 
land it is laid under contribution, and its produc- 
tions are enormous. These annual products far 
transcend in value the proceeds of all the minerals 
combined. 

129. Extent of the Wheat Belt— The belt 
of the wheat-producing region stretches from ocean 
to ocean ; not so wide on the Atlantic slope, only 
running far south on the highlands; it widens in 
the Great Valley, both toward the south and to the 
north beyond the Canada line, and west of the 
lakes beyond the forty-ninth parallel, while on the 
Pacific it not only runs farther south, but still 
farther north into British Columbia. More than 
half the area of the United States is included with- 
in this belt ; but especially the Great Valley may be 
considered the granary of the Union. Here can 
be seen the golden wheat in fields from 10 to 10,000 
acres and even more ; still larger fields are some- 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 79 

times seen on the Pacific slope. The climate is so 
diversified and the area so extensive that, if there 
should be droughts in some portions of the land, 
there would still be ample rain and sunshine in 
others, producing crops sufficient to supply the wants 
of the people, so that, humanly speaking, there would 
never occur a famine or great want of the necessa- 
ries of life. In some portions of California, nature 
has furnished such a climate and soil that, by .means 
of irrigation, two crops a year can be raised — wheat 
or barley — and on the same ground a crop of In- 
dian corn. 

130. The Indian-Corn and Cotton Belt. — 
The area of the maize or Indian corn overlaps the 
wheat belt far above its southern limit, and extends 
in its greatness to the extreme south, where it grows 
luxuriantly side by side with sugar-cane and cotton. 
The latter has an area sufficiently large and a soil 
sufficiently fertile to supply with this important arti- 
cle of necessity not only the people of the United 
States, but also Canada and Europe. This crop is 
more available in commercial exchange than the 
cereals — wheat and Indian corn — as the latter's 
value for exportation depends somewhat upon the 
abundance or failure of the crops of Europe ; but 
cotton in its various grades, from the finest sea- 
island to the long-staple of the upland, has virtually 
a monopoly of the world. 

131. Rice, Sugar, and Tobacco. — On the 
lowlands along the South Atlantic coast, and on 
some portions of similar lands on the north shore 
of the Gulf, rice is cultivated extensively, and pro- 



80 NATURAL RESOURCES 

duces a grain of most excellent quality. In Louisi- 
ana and Florida, on certain lands, sugar-cane can 
be grown in abundance. In the latter State the 
cane grows very luxuriantly, coming to full ma- 
turity. 

Tobacco is cultivated over a very large extent 
of country, but in detached districts, and may be 
noticed as a source of wealth that seems to be in- 
creasing. It is both produced and manufactured 
as an article of merchandise between different sec- 
tions of the land, and also with foreign countries. 

132. Minor Grains and Vegetables. — In the 
northern portion of the United States extends a 
belt across the continent where the grains, such as 
oats, buckwheat, barley, and rye, are cultivated to 
a large extent. The amount of vegetables raised 
in the Union is enormous ; the sweet potato of the 
South in its varieties is used extensively in the 
North, while the white or Irish potato of the latter 
region is there raised more abundantly, is more 
used, much more productive, and in the main more 
valuable. 

GRASSES. 

133. Not the least, by any means, are the re- 
sources of the United States arising from the com- 
bination of a fertile soil with an ample rainfall and 
genial climate, in the production of both native and 
cultivated grasses, in the forms of pasturage and 
hay. We can scarcely appreciate the value to the 
nation of the native and nutritious grasses that grow 
upon the uplands of Texas, and extend north over 
the plains between the Mississippi and the eastern 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 81 

foot-hills of the Rocky Mountains, when we learn 
of the untold multitudes of cattle that feed upon 
these grasses, and that from this source must ever 
come nearly all the beef supplies for the eastern 
and middle portion of the Union. Nor must we 
neglect to notice the herds which feed upon the 
fields that once were prairies ; nor the cattle upon 
a thousand hills in the Eastern States that feed upon 
cultivated grasses. In several States, such as New 
York and Kentucky, large herds of cattle are raised, 
and in others where the climate is mild, and but 
little shelter required. 

134. Cultivated Grasses and Dairy Prod- 
ucts. — Within a large belt extending across the 
northern portion of the Union the cultivated and 
native grasses seem to be specially nutritious, and 
to possess in an unusual degree the elements that 
insure the best and most abundant proceeds of the 
dairy. Two products of the dairy in the form of 
concentrated food — cheese and butter — have in- 
creased very much within late years. This increase 
is likely to continue. The demand for this food is 
great at home ; meanwhile the export to Europe 
has increased enormously. Statistics show the prod- 
uct of the dairy in the whole country to be valued 
at about $350,000,000 ; one third more in value 
than the cotton crop, and only one fifth less than 
the corn crop. Great improvements have been in- 
troduced in making cheese by means of factories, 
and also more recently in making butter in similar 
factories, called creameries. These improvements 
have produced a much better article at less ex- 



82 NATURAL RESOURCES 

pense. This is an application of industry that, 
from the nature of the case, will continue to in- 
crease with the wants of the future. Upon these 
grasses feed also immense flocks of sheep, supplying 
both wool and food. That noble animal, the horse, 
we raise in great numbers, because of our facilities 
of pasturage, hay, and grain-food to nourish them. 
The surplus is exported to Europe. 

135. Maize utilized; the Improvement in 
Stock. — The maize, that is cultivated in such 
abundance, enables the country to utilize, to great 
advantage, the many millions of swine which fur- 
nish so large an amount of food for the people and 
also for export. A marked feature may be noticed 
in the continuous improvements made in the breeds 
of domestic animals. It is found that, by proper 
care, the successive generations of these animals, 
one after the other, may be improved in various 
ways by those who rear them. This is specially 
noticeable in the cattle, in horses, in swine, and in 
sheep ; in the latter, not only in respect to the pro- 
duction of fine wool, but in that of sweet and nutri- 
tious mutton. This can continue to be a resource 
increasing in value from age to age. 

FRUITS. 

136. In connection with the native resources of 
the country are classed the fruits, so numerous and 
so useful in adding to the sustenance and the com- 
fort of the people. This includes the fruits of the 
temperate zone as well as those of the sub-tropical. 

Of orchard-fruits the apple is the most abundant 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 83 

in the United States, as it covers a much greater 
area and is more cultivated than any other fruit. 
The apple-producing belt extends across the entire 
middle and northern portion of the Union, and 
stretches far south on the plateaus and highlands. 
This prince of fruits has qualities that render it by 
far the most valuable of all our orchard produc- 
tions ; though it is so common and so abundant that 
its peculiarly superior properties are liable to be 
overlooked when compared with others, less com- 
mon and shorter-lived. The numerous varieties 
ripen at different times, some on the tree during 
the summer and autumn, others only after having 
been stored away perhaps for months, and, instead 
of deteriorating, they become more luscious in flavor 
and taste. This peculiarity of being stored away to 
ripen enables the merchant, in the mean time, to 
transport them long distances within our own coun- 
try, and to export them in immense quantities to 
foreign lands. Then, again, the value of the apple 
is greatly increased by the many forms in which it 
can be prepared for food. Statistics show that the 
apple crop is valued at more than $50,000,000 a 
year. 

137. The Peach Belt, the Minor Fruits, 
and the Vine. — The peach, though luscious as a 
fruit, can be preserved only for a short time in its 
native state ; its flowers are very tender, and liable 
to be blasted by the frost or sudden change of tem- 
perature, frequently causing the failure of the crop. 
One trait renders the peach very valuable — its capa- 
bility of being canned and preserved, but a little at 



84 NATURAL RESOURCES 

the expense of its delicious flavor. This defect is 
almost entirely obviated by an ingenious process of 
recent introduction, in which only the water of the 
ripe peach is evaporated. When this evaporated fruit 
is prepared for use, the flavor of the original peach 
is scarcely impaired. The peach-producing area, 
compared with that of the apple, is quite small, in- 
cluding only a limited portion of the Atlantic slope, 
principally in the States of New Jersey, Delaware, 
and Maryland, and farther south, a strip along the 
eastern foot-hills of the Alleghanies, and to some 
extent in Florida. In the Great Valley the peach 
flourishes in the north middle portion, and west of 
the Mississippi in the new States and Territories, and 
in California, but to a limited extent. Some years 
the peach crop amounts in value to $46,000,000. 
Side by side with the apple and the peach flourishes 
the pear, and the minor orchard-fruits — plums, 
apricots, and cherries. The pear crop is valued at 
about $14,000,000, and the grapes at about $2,000,- 
000. The total value of the fruit crop is $138,- 
000,000. Recent improvements in canning all these 
have enabled the people to have fruits in that form 
the year through. Within the region producing 
the apple and the peach we find the vine growing 
and bearing fine grapes for table use, and in some 
instances for making wine — preeminently in Cali- 
fornia. In portions of the Great Valley the vine is 
very productive, and furnishes wine of fine flavor. 

138. Florida ; its Oranges and Small Fruits. 
— In the extreme southern portion of the Union 
grow tropical and sub-tropical fruits. The gardens 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 85 

of Florida are wonderful in the amount of their 
productions of small fruits and vegetables, which 
begin to ripen in April, such as peas, strawberries, 
blackberries, and also sweet potatoes and tomatoes ; 
but the most important fruit of this State is the 
orange, deemed for its sweetness and flavor the best 
in the world. The groves of orange-trees are beau- 
tiful beyond compare; the golden fruit appearing 
amid the green foliage and white blossoms, while 
the fragrance penetrates the whole atmosphere. 

Here grow also in abundance peaches, quinces, 
and pears, cherries and plums, and luscious grapes, 
side by side with the lemon and the lime, bananas, 
and other tropical fruits. These are transported in 
large quantities to the cities on the Atlantic slope ; 
while in the Valley they are supplied from Louisi- 
ana, which also grows oranges and other tropical 
fruits. 

139. Small Fruits of Virginia and Dela- 
ware ; the Trade of Norfolk. — In connection 
with this may be mentioned the same early small 
fruits produced farther north, such as the straw- 
berries and other berries, which are grown in im- 
mense quantities in Delaware, and Virginia in its 
eastern portion. Norfolk is the main depot for the 
early vegetables, which are cultivated in great quan- 
tities in that mild climate and fertile soil, and fur- 
nished to the Northern markets. Owing to the 
facilities of rapid transportation, both by railway 
and steamship, the benefits derived from the rich 
and cultivated gardens of Florida and Virginia ex- 
tend over a large region of country, and are enjoyed 



86 NATURAL RESOURCES 

by millions of people, though distant hundreds of 
miles. The value of this resource is not to be 
reckoned entirely as a mere pecuniary considera- 
tion, because it comes in the form of an enjoyment 
and a producer of health. 

140. The Numerous Fruits; their Excel- 
lence. — Then comes California, with its fruits of 
marvelous size, but not so well flavored as those 
that are smaller. The southern portion especially 
is abundant in its production of oranges, lemons, 
citrons, olives, hard and soft shell almonds, bana- 
nas, and other fruits of a warm region. The orange- 
groves bear finely, but require irrigation to produce 
the fruit in perfection ; the trees are as fruitful as 
those of Florida. The olive- orchards are large and 
bear fruit of fine quality, equal to that of France 
or Spain, "plump, juicy, and of full flavor" ; the 
oil produced is equally excellent. 

141. The Walnut, the Vine, and the Sugar- 
Beet. — The English walnut, though of compara- 
tively recent introduction, flourishes finely and bears 
well, the climate being adapted to make the fruit 
perfect both in size and flavor. The climate and 
soil of California combine in some districts to make 
the vine grow luxuriantly, and bear grapes of ex- 
traordinarily fine flavor; the amount produced is 
simply enormous — a large percentage of which is 
used in making wine. We find both California and 
Florida fruits side by side in the markets of tha 
Atlantic cities — while the apple of the North inter- 
changes with the orange of the South. In Califor- 
nia the climate and soil seem to be also admirably 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 87 

adapted to produce a sugar-beet of excellent quality ; 
the beets raised have an unusual amount of sac- 
charine matter. The industry of making sugar from 
these beets has been thus far very successful. 

142. The Great Improvement; the Value 
of the Fruit Crop. — An important and very in- 
teresting feature of this culture is that, by judi- 
cious management, a continuous improvement in the 
quality of these various fruits can be produced. By 
means of this susceptibility of nature, the value of 
each kind of fruit is increasing from year to year. 
As different varieties can be obtained by careful 
cultivation, and a selection made of the best to plant 
or graft, the result will be an excellence of fruit 
hitherto unknown. This improvement is carried 
out with equal success in respect to the small gar- 
den fruits. At this rate of improvement we may 
imagine the excellence of the fruits of the future. 
The total value of the fruit crop of the United 
States is found by statistics to equal that of one half 
the value of the average wheat crop of the entire 
country. 

FORESTS. 

143. The timber-lands of the United States are 
no small source of utility and of wealth. The State 
of Maine has extensive forests, from which has been 
taken an immense amount of timber for ship-build- 
ing, domestic use, and for export. Though this 
drain has been going on for more than half a cen- 
tury, yet these woods are by no means exhausted. 
There are extensive and valuable forests on the 

sides and the foot-hills of the White Mountains, and 
9 



88 NATURAL RESOURCES 

in the valleys around them. There is also an 
abundance of timber in the Adirondacks and the 
Catskills, while the Alleghany Range is rich in its 
forests on both sides, east and west ; on the east side 
extending toward the Atlantic coast for more than 
one hundred miles, and on the west to the edge of 
the prairies and to the Mississippi. The pine-for- 
ests of the Carolinas and Georgia are valuable in 
many respects, as they furnish most of the turpen- 
tine of the world, besides a large amount of lumber. 
The forests along the north shore of the Gulf are 
rich in timber, while the fine-grained cedars of 
Florida have a peculiar value for the making of 
lead-pencils. Certain portions of Texas and Ar- 
kansas, especially the lowlands, are covered with a 
dense growth of valuable trees. 

144. The Isolated Woods ; Forests of Si- 
erra Nevada and Cascades.— In Michigan and 
other Northwestern States are very extensive iso- 
lated woods that will afford a vast amount of timber 
in the future. In the Rocky Mountains, in certain 
portions, are also forests, while along the Sierra 
Nevada and Cascades exist timber of gigantic 
growth — pines, firs, and cedars — not to mention the 
groves of the " Big Trees." Along the Coast Range 
also are extensive districts thickly set with large 
trees. 

145. The Forests of Oregon, Washington 
Territory, and Alaska. — But all these are insig- 
nificant when compared with the immense forests 
of Oregon and Washington Territory. These par- 
take of the same general character. Trees of im- 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 8c, 

mense size loom up from 100 to 250 feet in height, 
and of proportionate diameter, and stand remark- 
ably thick upon the ground — a storehouse to supply- 
more especially the Pacific States and South Amer- 
ica, Japan, and China. To the two latter countries 
this lumber has already found its way, and also 
around Cape Horn to Rio Janeiro. 

The extended shore of Alaska, on the south 
and southeast, is covered with dense forests of fine 
timber, especially the strip of territory that lies for 
400 miles along the ocean, and extends back on an 
average of about 140 miles to the crest of the 
mountains, the line dividing British Columbia from 
Alaska. The trees consist of the pine, cedar, spruce, 
hemlock, and many other kinds. 

In addition to the extensive forests just men- 
tioned, there are remnants of the primitive woods 
scattered all over the country ; these, for the most 
part, are sufficient to supply local wants. It is 
proper to mention the efforts made by the National 
Government and some of the States to save the 
forests from wanton destruction, and the encourage- 
ment they give the people to plant trees, as on the 
prairies, in order to furnish timber for the future. 

RESOURCES OF FRESH WATERS AND OF THE 
SEA. 

146. In enumerating the resources of the Union, 
those of the fresh waters should not be overlooked, 
since numerous rivers afford facilities for the trans- 
portation of merchandise and for travel, and the 
fisheries of the Great Lakes furnish large quantities 



9* NATURAL RESOURCES 

of food to the inhabitants of the cities near their 
shores, and also to the people in the interior of that 
section of the country. The fish obtained also from 
rivers in different portions of the land at certain 
seasons is no small item of value. 

We would appreciate more fully the benefits we 
derive from our fresh waters in the form of ice, if, 
after testing its usefulness, we were deprived of it. 
Less than half a century ago, ice, from its scarcity, 
was deemed a luxury; now it has become a neces- 
sity, and its application to domestic and useful pur- 
poses has increased enormously. It confers untold 
blessings of health and comfort upon the inhabitants 
of the cities and large towns, by making the waters 
with which they are supplied cool, wholesome, and 
palatable. 

147. Utility of Ice. — The value of the varied 
supplies of food derived from the sea and from the 
lakes has been greatly enhanced within the last 
half century by the use of ice. This can be said, 
especially, in respect to fish that are taken to supply 
the daily markets of the cities along the shores and 
coasts, and of others farther inland. These are 
packed in ice and kept fresh while being transport- 
ed in steamships along the coast, or on railways for 
long distances into the country. The Eastern cities 
can now receive meat fresh from the herds of cattle 
or flocks of sheep in the Great Valley or the South- 
west by means of refrigerating cars. This mode of 
supplying food is only in its infancy, but it is an 
earnest of national benefits to be increased indefi- 
nitely in the future. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 91 

148. The Storehouse of Food. — The food 
supplies obtained from the ocean are very great. 
The waters thus laid under contribution extend 
from Eastport, Maine, to the mouth of the Rio 
Grande, and from San Diego Bay to the straits of 
Fuca. The waters along the Atlantic coast, and in 
the bays and sounds connected with it, swarm at 
all times with fish, while at certain seasons come 
other fish in immense numbers from the depths of 
the ocean to feed on the banks or shallows off the 
coast. Some of these feeding-grounds are so near 
the shore that they may be deemed neighboring: 
such as St. George's Shoals, second in importance 
only to the Banks of Newfoundland, in the multi- 
tudes of codfish found there feeding on the sea- 
weed or grass. These shoals are visited almost 
alone by New England fishermen. 

The United States have also an interest in the 
fisheries off Nova Scotia, on the Banks, and around 
Prince Edward Island. Off these shores American 
fishermen capture immense quantities of the food- 
fishes : such as herring, mackerel, and cod. They 
have taken in a single year 350,000 barrels of mack- 
erel, and a much greater quantity of cod. In this 
business there are employed sometimes 10,000 men. 

149. The Fishing Industry. — In New Eng- 
land many inland towns and cities derive large sup- 
plies of food from the fisheries along the coast, 
while others on the shore engage extensively in the 
business of fishing as a means of livelihood. Glouces- 
ter, Massachusetts, is the most prominent in this 
branch of industry. That city sends out annually 



92 NATURAL RESOURCES 

more than 500 vessels along the coast or to St. 
George's Shoals. At one season they fish for cod, 
at another for halibut, and at still another for mack- 
erel. These " catches " in turn are prepared for 
market, both domestic and foreign. The product 
of the New England fisheries amounts in value to 
several million dollars a year, one half of which 
belongs to Boston. 

Other fisheries are nearer at hand, such as for 
bluefish, tautog, and other kinds, that are drawn 
upon to furnish daily supplies to the cities near the 
coast, and to others farther inland ; to the latter the 
fish are sent packed in ice. 

150. The Menhaden and Shad. — In Long 
Island Sound and along the Jersey shores are found 
nearly all these classes of fish, and, in addition, the 
menhaden or whitefish, in such multitudes that they 
are used extensively for manuring the land, and for 
obtaining oil by pressure. The flesh of this fish is 
sweet and nutritious, but almost useless on account 
of its being so very bony. Recently ingenuity has 
invented a machine that takes out the bones ; then 
the fish are prepared and put up after the manner 
of French and Italian sardines, which they are said 
to rival in sweetness and flavor. (Simmonds, p. 82.) 

In the spring months the lower portions of the 
rivers flowing into the Atlantic swarm with shad, 
while within the sounds and small bays they are 
equally plenty. The shad are furnished in vast 
quantities to the inhabitants of the cities near these 
waters, and also to the towns farther inland, by be- 
ing packed in ice and sent by railway. The coast 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 93 

of North Carolina, at this season, is specially prolific 
in both herrings and shad. At the mouth of the 
Chowan, in Albemarle Sound, 300,000 herrings have 
been caught by means of seines in a single day; 
and shad from 1,000 to 2,000 at a catch. " Steamers 
are at the wharves constantly loading with these 
fine fish, packed in ice, for New York and other 
Northern markets." (Simmonds, p. 60.) In addi- 
tion, immense numbers are cured by salt and put 
up in appropriate vessels to supply the people dur- 
ing the year. Fish in great abundance and varie- 
ties abound in the northern waters of the Gulf of 
Mexico, and in the Mississippi, especially in its 
lower portion. 

151. Fish-Culture. — It is proper to note the 
remarkable success of fish-culture as directed by 
the National Government and private association s. 
This effort to develop the resources of nature is 
only in its infancy ; but the indications are that it 
will result in incalculable advantage to the country 
in affording valuable supplies of food. 

OYSTERS. 

152. In many of the inlets and sounds along the 
Atlantic coast are more or less of native oysters, 
but none of these beds compare in value with the 
treasures of that shell-fish found in Chesapeake Bay. 
In addition to the millions of excellent fish that 
swim in the waters of the bay, a great portion of 
the bottom is literally covered with oysters spon- 
taneously produced, and the finest in the world. 
From the bay vast numbers are carried in sloops 



94 



NATURAL RESOURCES 



and planted, as the term is, in waters farther north. 
After rinding a suitable place in some bay or in- 
let, they are thrown overboard ; the oyster left to 
its own resources easily obtains food, and in due 
time grows large and fat, and becomes ready for 
market. 

In the small bays and inlets around New York 
City, especially in Long Island Sound, and along 




Fig. ii.— Oysters. 

the Jersey shore, are oyster-beds thus planted in 
great numbers. The importance of this source of 
food and wealth may be inferred from the estimated 
value of the trade in oysters carried on in the 
Metropolis— it amounts annually to many millions 
of dollars. There are about 150 sailing vessels, 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 95 

manned by at least 700 seamen, engaged in this 
business around New York alone. 

153. Canned or Pickled Oysters. — The busi- 
ness of pickling oysters is carried on extensively at 
certain places on Long Island Sound. Fair Haven, 
one of these, is the largest oyster-mart in New Eng- 
land. About 4,000,000 bushels are brought yearly 
to this place from the Chesapeake and the neigh- 
boring waters. A portion are planted and the re- 
mainder canned, and, when thus prepared, are sent 
to markets all over the country and abroad. 

Norfolk, Virginia, has an extensive trade in oys- 
ters, while that of Baltimore is greater than the 
wheat trade of Maryland. The latter city ships 
u raw oysters to South America, California, and Aus- 
tralia, and besides to all parts of Europe ; and the 
demand will steadily increase as they become bet- 
ter known, from the fact that Chesapeake oysters, 
like canvas-back ducks, owe their superior flavor to 
the food obtained on their feeding-grounds." (Sim- 
monds, p. 144.) In Baltimore are also very large 
establishments engaged in canning or pickling oys- 
ters for consumption in our own country and for 
foreign markets. In this industry are employed 
thousands of men during the winter months; the 
same men during the summer and autumn are en- 
gaged in canning fruits and vegetables, which are 
obtained from the gardens in the region around 
the city. 

154. Clams and Lobsters. — The soft clam, 
next to the oyster, is deemed the most valuable 
bivalve on the Atlantic coast. Clam-beds are found 



96 NATURAL RESOURCES 

along the New England shores in sheltered places ; 
in the mouths of rivers, and in inlets, especially in 
Long Island Sound. These shell-fish are easily 
obtained from their beds at low tide; they, at all 
seasons, furnish a large amount of food to certain 
classes. The round clams are found in great abun- 
dance along the coast from Cape Cod almost to 
Florida. This shell-fish is very valuable to the 
fishermen, in furnishing them bait for cod, as that 
fish seems to have a strong partiality for the flesh 
of the clam. 

Lobsters are found in large quantities along the 
New England coast; they are valuable for food, 
but more as a luxury than for common use. Great 
and increasing numbers are canned and shipped, 
especially to England, or sent to the cities in the 
interior of our own country. The drawback to this 
trade is the fact that the lobsters are rapidly dimin- 
ishing under this increasing demand, and fears are 
entertained that ere long the supply will be ex- 
hausted. "A few years ago it was not uncom- 
mon to catch lobsters weighing from ten to twenty 
pounds ; now the average is from th?-ee to six pounds/' 
It is hoped that effective measures will be taken to 
remedy this evil. 

155. The Fisheries in Puget Sound and off 
the Straits of Fuca. — We now come to the re- 
sources of the sea as found in the Northwest. Puget 
Sound — " the Mediterranean of the North Pacific " 
— is fully stocked with a great variety of the finest 
fish — cod, salmon, herring, halibut, and other kinds ; 
oysters and clams are also found in great abundance. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 97 

Oysters are here transplanted, as is the custom in 
Eastern waters, and they also in due time become 
large and fit for use. 

Just off the mouth of the straits of Fuca — twenty- 
five miles distant — is a bank or shallow in the ocean, 
a great feeding-place for halibut. They come here 
in great numbers, are of very large size, and of fine 
quality. The smoothness of the water aids much 
in making this fishery valuable, as the halibut are 
easily taken. 

The waters around the entire southern coast of 
Alaska afford very fine fisheries. The cod and the 
halibut are of extraordinary size — the latter weigh- 
ing from 100 to 300 pounds — and herrings in im- 
mense numbers. These fisheries will assuredly be- 
come a great source of benefit to the United States 
when properly utilized. Their products have already 
found their way to Japan and China. 

SALMON. 

156. The Columbia and its main branch, the 
Shoshonee, and other tributaries, rise amid the 
mountains, and are fed by streams made cold by 
melting snows; in consequence their waters, during 
all seasons, are remarkable for their icy coldness 
and clearness : this quality that prince of fishes — 
the salmon — found out long ago. These fish come 
in untold multitudes from their home in the Pacific, 
and from April to August run up the Columbia and 
its tributaries. 

157. The Process of Canning ; the Demand. 
— At Astoria, and in the vicinity, are large estab- 



98 NATURAL RESOURCES 

lishments for canning and salting down the salmon. 
These fish do not take bait at this season, and are 
caught in gill-nets, but only at night, the water be- 
ing so clear they can see the nets during the day, 
and, either by swimming above or under them, avoid 
the danger. Only the largest are thus caught, as 
the meshes of the nets are unusually large — about 
eight inches square. The fish range in size from 
fifteen to seventy-five pounds. 

After a series of handlings they are cleansed 
and prepared for canning or salting. The process 
practiced here is said to be the only one known by 
which the flavor of the salmon can be well pre- 
served. Every can is thoroughly tested, and no 
imperfect one permitted to leave these establish- 
ments. The fish is cooked by a peculiar process in 
the cans, which are then hermetically sealed ; they 
are sent to the home market and all over the world, 
Old England taking much the larger share. From 
7,000 to 10,000 tons of salmon have thus been 
canned in a single year, and nearly as many tons 
. either salted and put in barrels, and sent to the 
Atlantic markets, or used in the vicinity. 

Notwithstanding the vast amount sent upon the 
market, the demand is far beyond the supply, and 
the anticipated product of these fisheries is con- 
tracted for before the season commences. Still 
more marvelous is the assertion of the fishermen, 
that the number of the salmon entering the Colum- 
bia does not seem to diminish from year to year. 
The value of the salmon here canned is estimated 
at an annual average of $3,000,000. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 



99 



158. Salmon of the Yukon.— Immense num- 
bers of salmon during the season also run up the 
Yukon River in Alaska, but the season is much 
shorter than on the Columbia, and thus far this 
fishery has not been utilized. 

FUR-BEARING SEALS. 

159. On the PrybilorT Islands, in Behring's 
Straits, once a year, congregate fur-bearing seals in 
vast numbers. These furnish the fur skins from 




10 



Fig. 12.— Fur-bearing Seal of Alaska. 



ioo NATURAL RESOURCES 

which, after many dyeings and dressings, and fin- 
ishing, is produced the material for that beautiful 
article of dress — the sealskin cloak worn by ladies. 
These seals are found scarcely anywhere else, but 
here they come in sufficient numbers to supply the 
markets of the world. The United States Govern- 
ment permits only a certain number to be taken, 
and is very strict in enforcing the laws for protect- 
ing the seals from wanton destruction. The num- 
ber now permitted to be captured is 125,000 a year; 
from these the Government derives a revenue, more 
than sufficient to protect them from avaricious 
and reckless white hunters and the Indians, who 
were fast destroying the whole race of this valuable 
seal. Under this judicious management the num- 
ber of seals is now on the increase. 

WII D GAME. 

160. One of the resources of the Chesapeake — 
second only to the oysters in value — is the immense 
numbers of wild fowl and game that frequent its 
chores and shoals. This offering of nature to fur- 
nish food to man is really a valuable acquisition — 
it once saved the colony of Virginia from starva- 
tion. 

These birds consist of wild geese, and many 
varieties of ducks — the canvas-back the most promi- 
nent in value. They are attracted by the abun- 
dance of food they find on the great flats along the 
shores and inlets of the bay. The canvas-back 
acquires its peculiarly fine and delicate flavor by 
feeding on a species of wild celery which grows in 



OF THE UNITED STATES, 101 

the shallows, eight or ten feet deep. These and 
the other birds are shot and captured in great num- 
bers to supply the markets of the cities within 
reach. The other bays and inlets farther south, 
such as Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds, have also, 
during the same season, a very large amount of 
wild fowl, which are likewise captured and sent to 
market. 

This large trade has its principal depot at Nor- 
folk, Virginia, from which during the latter part of 
autumn and winter rapid steamers carry the game 
daily to market, or to points from which it can be 
conveyed by railway. This trade is increasing from 
year to year, as the facilities for rapid transporta- 
tion are improved. 

1 6 1. Their Migrations; the Return with 
their Young. — In early spring these birds begin 
to leave their winter feeding-grounds in the Chesa- 
peake and the other bays and inlets for their breed- 
ing-places, to return in the autumn, with apparently 
undiminished numbers; and thus they have done 
for ages, we know not how long. They make their 
way directly toward the northwest, stopping to rest 
awhile among the lakes of Minnesota and the 
neighboring States ; then they pass on till they 
reach the Yukon River in Alaska. For hundreds 
of miles along the banks of that river they build 
their nests amid the sefdges, and hatch their young, 
living meanwhile upon the wild berries of different 
kinds that grow in that region in the utmost pro- 
fusion ; upon these they become exceedingly fat. 
In the autumn, when the young are large enough 



102 NATURAL RESOURCES 

to fly, they set out, never making a mistake, but 
with unerring instinct bringing with them their 
young to their winter feeding-grounds ; meanwhile 
again stopping on the way to rest at their old haunts 
amid the lakes of the Northwest. 



HOMESTEAD LAW— TIMBER ACT. 

162. It is thought proper to add to the " Re- 
sources of the United States" a sketch of the 
Homestead Law and of the Timber-culture Act, in 
order that those desiring to make their homes upon 
the public lands may ascertain the process by which 
they can acquire such homes, and secure for them- 
selves a portion of these lands — one of the important 
resources of the Union. 

163. The Homestead Law went into effect 
on January 1, 1863. By its provisions any actual 
settler, "twenty-one years of age," male or female, 
the head of a family, " on payment of ten dollars, he 
or she shall thereupon be permitted to enter the 
quantity of land specified " — 160 acres. Also, per- 
sons of foreign birth enjoy the same privilege, "pro- 
vided the immigrant be a citizen of the United 
States, or has declared his intention to become 
such." The law also says: "This homestead shall 
not in any event become liable to the satisfaction 
of any debt or debts contracted prior to the issuing 
of the patent therefor." To prevent fraud the set- 
tler must be an occupant; that is, live upon the 
farm he or she has entered, and cultivate it for a 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 103 

term of five years. On evidence of this compli- 
ance with the law, the Government gives him or her 
a title in fee for the 160 acres he or she has entered. 
In case of the death of the settler before the expi- 
ration of the five years, the land is secured by the 
same law to his or her heirs. 

164- The Timber Act. — Homesteads may 
also be obtained by means of the Timber-culture 
Act. The prairies are frequently scarce of tim- 
ber, and this law is designed to produce forests 
that may become beneficial to the adjacent region. 
By this enactment, any person having the same 
qualifications required of those that enter home- 
steads, who will "plant, protect, and keep in a 
healthy, growing condition for eight years, ten acres 
of timber on any quarter-section of any of the pub- 
lic lands of the United States, shall be entitled to a 
patent for the whole of such quarter-section M — 160 
acres. In the same proportion of planting timber 
a smaller quantity of land can be secured ; that 
is, the settler can secure 80 acres by planting five 
acres, and so on by planting in timber one sixteenth 
of the tract occupied. Neither can this homestead 
" become liable to the satisfaction of any debt or 
debts contracted prior to the issuing of the final 
certificate therefor." Residence upon a timber- 
claim is not required. The homesteads entered 
under either of these laws are free from taxation 
till the issuance of the last patent or title in fee. 
The lands within the railway grants can be taken 
up under both laws, but those under the homestead 
give the settler 80 acres instead of 160 outside the 



<co4 NATURAL RESOURCES 

grant. The Preemption Law secures to the settler 
upon United States' land the right to purchase in 
preference to others when the land is sold. 

165. The Results. — From the annual reports 
of the Interior Department we find that under these 
beneficent laws there have been entered in nineteen 
years — the much greater portion under the home- 
stead bill — about 74,000,000 acres, making 115,625 
square miles. This area about equals that of the 
States of New England and New York combined, 
as in the surveying for homesteads the surface of 
lakes and areas of shore-lines on the ocean, which 
run three miles out, are not included. This area 
is greater than that of England, Scotland, and 
Wales together with Ireland combined, if we de- 
duct the water-surface in and around these coun- 
tries. 

The Secretary of the Interior, when comparing 
the homesteads given outside with those within the 
railway grants, states their average size to be 120 
acres. This would give 616,666 households, which, 
on an average of five persons to each, aggregates 
3,083,330 — about three-fifths the present popula- 
tion of the State of New York. The annual average 
number of households thus established has been 
for these nineteen years about 31,403. In this cal- 
culation is not enumerated the lands sold by the 
railways, which amount is said to be nearly as large. 
The combination of the two systems speedily forms 
settlements sufficiently populated to sustain church- 
es and schools, so dear to the American people. 

166. Railway Grants. — The National Govern- 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 105 

ment often gives portions of the public lands to aid 
in building railways ; these make the lands to be 
occupied more accessible. These grants are varied 
in extent; when the road passes through public 
lands within State limits, the grant extends ten 
miles on each side of it ; but when through terri- 
tories, the grant extends twenty miles. This is sur- 
veyed, as all the public lands are, and divided into 
acres, 640 of which make one square mile. This is 
termed a section, but the largest amount given to a 
settler is one quarter-section, or 160 acres. Another 
division made is the township or town, which con- 
sists of 36 sections or square miles, the first and 
thirty-sixth sections of which township are reserved 
for the school fund of the future State. Then the 
road receives alternate sections — the odd numbers 
— and the Government retains the even numbers, 
and so on. The lands within the railway grants be- 
longing to the United States are held at two and a 
half dollars an acre, just twice the price paid outside 
the grant, so that in theory the National Government 
loses nothing by conferring these railway grants; 
but it does confer blessings upon the multitudes 
who settle upon these lands in furnishing them 
homes and in bringing them into connection with 
the older sections of the country and their markets. 
167. The Main Roads. — The intention was to 
extend three railways across the plains and moun- 
tains from the Mississippi River to the Pacific. 
Through the middle portion of this territory, one 
— the Union Pacific — is finished from Omaha to 
San Francisco. Through the middle of the section 



106 NATURAL RESOURCES 

north of the latter road is the Northern Pacific, ex- 
tending from Duluth, on the southwest part of Lake 
Superior, also recently finished to Puget Sound ; 
and in the South the Southern Pacific, from Mem- 
phis and other points^ is completed to San Fran- 
cisco. Three belts of settlements by these means are 
extending across the continent. The general Gov- 
ernment, in addition to the grants of land to these 
three great railways, has often given lands on the 
same conditions to shorter roads within the new 
States wherein are large areas of the public lands. 
Cross-roads uniting these settlements will be built 
in time by the people themselves, as necessity re- 
quires. 

168. Homes by Purchase. — Great numbers, 
having the means, prefer to own homes nearer these 
roads than to settle on free homesteads at a dis- 
tance from them. These purchase farms either 
from the Government or from the railway com- 
panies. The latter find it for their interest to sell 
at reasonable rates, and, to induce settlers, give a 
long time for payments. 

169. Character of the Population. — The 
people who find homes upon these lands have the 
elements in themselves to make in the future an in- 
dustrious and moral population. They had the 
intelligence to see the means of bettering their 
condition, and the energy to make the effort. They 
left the social advantages of the older States, as 
well as their crowded farms and cities, and pushed 
out boldly into the wilderness of woods and prairie 
to find homes for themselves and families, hoping 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 107 

in due time to have church and civilizing privileges, 
and, when they need them, schools for their children, 
the funds for which are secured by the sale of the 
lands reserved for that purpose. 

170. The Welcome. — The generous Govern- 
ment and the people themselves welcome the intel- 
ligent and moral, the industrious and temperate 
immigrant from foreign countries to share with 
them this bounty of the public lands. All that is 
required of the foreigner is that he should be either 
already a citizen or have declared his intention to 
become one, before he can enter his 160 acres and 
occupy it with his family. 

171. The Good Intent. — The Homestead Law 
is preeminently the poor man's friend — an instance 
of the beneficence of a Government known only by 
its blessings. By this law the public lands are kept 
from speculators, and preserved in moderately sized 
farms for the settler and his children, and thus pre- 
vented from being converted into vast landed es- 
tates. 

172. Caution should be exercised by the set- 
tlers — both American and foreign — to seek homes 
on the public lands that lie in or near the latitude 
that may have a climate similar in its character to 
the one to which they have been accustomed. 



QUESTIONS. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Sections I, 2. 

1. What is said of the shape of North America ? 

2. Describe the view from a point over the Isthmus of Darien. 

3. Mention the ranges of mountains, and the regions between 
them. 

4. What is said of the portion occupied by the United States ? 

COAST-LINE, p. 2. 

Sections 3 — 6. 

1. Name the estimated coast-line of North America, and that of 
Europe. 

2. How does the surface-area of Europe compare with its coast- 
line ? 

3. Name what is properly the coast-line of the United States. 

4. How does this surface-area and coast-line compare with that 
of Europe ? 

5. Enumerate the advantages of an extended coast-lire or navi- 
gable rivers. 

6. Name the effects of this in ancient and in modern times. 

COAL, p 4. 

Sections 7, 8. 

1. State the importance of coal. 

2. Explain how coal has been produced. 

3. Compare the growth of vegetation in the "Carboniferous 
age " with that of to-day. 

4. Name the proportion of peat to form a seam of coal, and the 
estimated time. 

5. What is said of the pressure ? Give Professor Dana's views. 

6. How was the anthracite coal produced ? What is said of 
heat? 

Sections 9 — 12. 

1. Explain how the remains of plants found in coal can be com- 
pared with those of the present time. 

2. What remains are found in the " impervious clay" ? 

3. Explain the effect of water and the climate. 

4. What are peat-bogs ? 



QUESTIONS. 109 



5. Why are there no vegetable remains in anthracite coal ? 

6. What was the original character of the entire coal-field ? 

7. Describe the structure and properties of cannel-coal. 

8. Explain why the great coal-field was originally level. 

9. Why was a portion upheaved ? 

10. State how the continuity of the seam has been broken. 

11. What does the resemblance of the various coal-seams prove ? 

THE EXTENT OF COAL, p. 9. 

Sections 13 — 17. 

i. Name the number of square miles of coal in the various coun- 
tries of Europe. How do they compare with their surface-area ? 

2. What amount of workable coal has France, Belgium, and 
England ? 

3. What is the ratio of the coal-area to the surface-area of Eu- 
rope ? 

4. How does this compare with that of the United States ? 

5. What the probable area of coal yet to be discovered ? 

6. Describe the coal-measures by Fig. 4. 

7. Mention the comparative thickness of the coal-seams of Eng- 
land and those of the United States. 

8. What is said of the dip of the seams in England ? 

9. What is said in this respect of the anthracite of Pennsylvania ? 

10. Give the estimated average thickness of the aggregate seams 
in the entire coal-field of the Union. 

11. Explain why coal is so easily mined in the United States. 

CLASS' FICATION OF COAL, p. 12. 

Sections 18 — 23. 

1. Name the four classes of coal, and where located. 

2. Give the characteristics of anthracite ; its common names, 
and why. 

3. What the area and aggregate thickness of seams ? 

4. State the estimated population dependent on anthracite for 
heat. 

5. Why are there vacant spaces in the anthracite field ? (See 
Fig. 5-) . 

6. Give the locations of the coal-basins, and their business 
centers. 

7. What the average thickness of the " Mammoth " seam ? 

8. Where is anthracite found outside Pennsylvania ? 

SEMI-BITUMINOUS COAL, p. 13. 
Section 24. 

1. Explain the transition space. 

2. Name the basins of this coal and their area. 

3. To what class belongs the Cumberland field ? 



QUESTIONS. 



4. Name the aggregate area of the basins. 

5. What has been the effect of anthracite on industry ? 

BITUMINOUS COAL-FIELD?, p. 16. 

Sections 25 — 27. 

1. Name the several isolated coal-fields east of the Alleghanies. 

2. Describe the Richmond field. What is said of natural coke ? 

3. What is. said of the coal-field of North Carolina ? 

4. What the location of coal, iron-ore, and limestone, at Johns- 
town, Pennsylvania ? 

5. Name a valuable trait of the Alleghany coal. 

Sections 28 — 32. 

1. Give the boundaries and area of the Alleghany bituminous 
coal-field. 

2. Describe the water-shed of this great field. 

3. Name the rivers, and describe their course to the Ohio. 

4. Explain wherein they have aided man in the formation of 
valleys. 

5. Give the name and describe the main seam of this field. 

6. Mention its area and thickness at different points. 

7. What the rich quality of this coal and its characteristics ? 

8. Describe the hills along the Monongahela in respect to their 
coal. 

9. WTiy is it so easily mined ? Quote Sir Charles Lyell. 

Sections 33 — 37. 

1. Name the peculiarities of the coal at Connellsville. Its use. 

2. Describe New River. Name the varieties of coal in West 
Virginia. 

3. What is said of the kinds of coal along Coal River ? 

4. The vein of asphaltum — how large ? 

5. What are the varieties of coal mined in Ohio ? Their prop- 
erties ? 

6. What is said of the coal-field of eastern Kentucky ? 

7. The coal-field of East Tennessee — how situated ? 

8. Describe the separate coal-fields of Alabama. 

9. For what is Red Mountain remarkable ? 

CENTRAL COAL-FIELD, p. 24. 

Sections 38 — 42. 

1. Name the three States in which this field lies. 

2. Give the extent of coal in each. 

3. How is this coal reached in the prairie States ? 

4. Mention the properties of the block-coal of Indiana as to 
shape, and quality, and use. 

5. Give an account of the furnaces at Brazil, Indiana. Whence 
do they obtain iron-ore ? 



QUESTIONS, in 



6. What the number of seams of coal in this field ? Where else 
is block-coal found ? 

7. How does the coal of the central field compare with that of 
the Alleghany ? 

8. Describe the coal-area of western Kentucky. 

Sections 43 — 48. 

1. Give an account of the coal-fields of Iowa and Missouri. 

2. Mention the characteristics of the singular deposits of coal in 
the latter State. 

3. Name the varieties of coal and their properties. 

4. Describe the coal found in Michigan. For what is it re- 
markable ? 

5. What is said of the coal of Nebraska ? 

6. What is the coal-area of Kansas, and what its position ? 

7. What stone is found within these coal-measures ? 

8. Give an account of the transition ? 

9. Describe the coal-field of Arkansas. 

10. What is said of the coal found in Texas ? 

Sections 49 — 52. 

1. Give a summary of the extent of the lignite-coal field. 

2. Describe the composition of this class of coal. 

3. What is said of the fossils found in it ? 

4. Give an account of the beds of this coal. What its heating 
qualities ? 

5. For what distance found along the Pacific Railway ? 

6. Describe the mine at Cheyenne. 

7. What the estimated area of this coal-field ? 

COAL ON THE PACIFIC SLOPE, p. 31. 
Sections 53—59- 

1. To what class of coal does it belong ? Its characteristics ? 

2. Describe the mines at Mount Diablo. 

3. Name the properties of the coal of southern Oregon. 

4. Give a description and name the coal-fields of Washington 
Territory. 

5. Describe the Bellingham mines. What is the flora like ? 

6. What the opinions of geologists in respect to the coal of this 
region ? 

7. The coal found in Alaska partakes of what properties ? 

8. What area of coal is available in Nova Scotia ? 

9. Is it easily mined ? What impairs its value ? 

10. Where is coal found in British Columbia ? What its na- 
ture ? 

11. Describe the lignite fields in northwestern Ontario. 

IRON-ORES, p. 34. 
Sections 60 — 67. 

1. Why is iron so important a mineral ? 

2. How extensive do these ores exist ? 

H 



H2 QUESTIONS. 



3. Describe the many ways in which they are mined. 

4. Name the connections in which they are found. 

5. What is said of New England ores, and of the quality of the 
iron they produce ? 

6. The ores found in the Adirondacks — how smelted ? 

7. Describe the deposit of ore found at Stirling Mountain. 

8. What is said of the iron-ores of New Jersey ? 

9. What of that region in respect to its mineral wealth ? 

10. Describe the preeminence of Pennsylvania in mineral stores. 

11. How is this wealth distributed ? 

12. Give a description of a singular deposit. 

13. Give an account of the ore deposits on both sides of this 
mountain-range. 

14. What are their accompaniments ? 

15. Name the valleys and their extent. 

Sections 68 — 74. 

1. Describe the ore deposits of Virginia. Give the names of the 
ores. 

2. Give an account of the belt of iron-ores across the State ; the 
"James River." 

3. What the qualities of these ores ? 

4. What is said of the ore-fields of North Carolina ? 

5. Describe the ore-field at the southern end of the Alleghanies. 

6. What is said of Red Mountain and its surroundings of coal 
and limestone ? 

7. Name the detached deposits of iron-ore. 

8. Compare the Alleghanies with other mountains in respect to 
their mineral wealth. 

9. How does iron compare with gold and silver in its intrinsic 
value ? 

10. Explain the effect of the use of iron upon industry. 

11. What change is taking place in respect to iron and steel ? 

12. Give the names of the iron mountains, and the character- 
istics of their veins of iron-ore. 

13. Give an account of the iron-ores found around Lake Superior. 

14. To what places are they taken to be smelted ? 

15. What has science shown in respect to mixing ores in the 
furnace ? 

16. Where else are found masses of iron-ore ? 

17. How does the United States compare with the world in re- 
spect to its wealth of iron and coal ? 

GOLD AND SILVER, p. 40. 

Sections 75 — 81. 

1. How many distinct gold-fields has the United States ? 

2. Describe their situation and extent. 

3. What is said by geology in respect to the " auriferous veins n 
of California ? 

4. Where is gold found, and where silver ? 

5. Describe the finding of gold and the effect upon the country. 



QUESTIONS. Ii3 



6. Explain with what difficulties the gold-bearing quartz is ob- 
tained, and the gold extracted. 

7. What is hoped from science in facilitating the extracting of 
gold? 

8. What is said of the richness of the mines ? 

9. Explain the mining industry of Idaho. 

10. Describe the isolated deposits of War Eagle Mountain, 
n. Mention in what way Colorado is rich. 

12. What is said of mines at Leadville ? 

13. Give a summary of the gold-mines of Montana, Wyoming, 
Black Hills, New Mexico, and Arizona. 

Sections 82 — 85. 

1. In what respect does Nevada stand preeminent ? 

2. Describe the Comstock lode and its mining. 

3. The Sutro Tunnel. What its purpose and probable effect ? 

4. Name the estimated area of the gold and silver fields of the 
United States. 

5. Name the minor metals, and tell where found. 

PETROLEUM, p. 47. 

Sections 86 — 89. 

1. Specify the theories in respect to the origin of petroleum. 

2. What do geologists say on the subject ? 

3. Give the first theory, the second, and the difficulties in adopt- 
ing either. 

4. Describe the three classes of oils as to their characteristics. 

5. What is the position of the strata of rocks in which petroleum 
is found ? 

6. What are the effects when the auger penetrates the reservoir ? 

7. Name the regions most productive of oil. 

8. Give the amount of area that geology estimates to be oil-pro- 
ducing. 

LEAD AND COPPER, p. 50. 

Sections 90 — 92. 

1. Name the sections of the Union where lead is found in limited 
quantities. 

2. Name the three States having a large area of lead-ore. 

3. What is the extent of the area ? Where was the ore fre- 
quently found ? 

4. Describe the lead-mines at Grandley, Missouri. 

5. Where is copper found most abundantly east of the Missis- 
sippi ? 

6. In what State and Territory west of that river ? 

7. Where is located the great copper-field of the Union ? 

8. Name the difficulties of mining pure copper. 

9. Describe Isle Royale and its mines. 

10. What ores are abundant on the north shore of Lake Su- 
perior ? 



H4 QUESTIONS. 



QUICKSILVER, GRAPHITE, SLATE, p. 53. 
Sections 93 — 97. 

1. Describe the location of the New Almaden mine. 

2. Why is quicksilver used for extracting gold and silver ? 

3. Describe the ore and the working of the New Almaden mine. 

4. Explain how the metal is extracted. 

5. What is said of the production and wastage of quicksilver ? 

6. In what other countries is quicksilver found ? 

7. What is graphite or plumbago ? 

8. Where is it found in the United States ? 

9. Where in the Old World is it found most abundantly ? 

10. Describe the mine at Ticonderoga. 

11. How many kinds are found here and for what purposes 
used ? 

12. For what other purposes is plumbago used ? 

13. What is said of the native pureness of the graphite found 
here ? 

14. What monopoly has Florida ? 

15. Name the three States having rich slate-quarries. 

16. For what purpose are the slates of the first named specially 
adapted ? 

17. Name the uses to which slate has been applied. 

18. Which of these uses is the most interesting ? 

19. How are slate-pencils made ? 

GRANITE, SANDSTONE, MARBLE, p. 57. 
Sections 98 — 102. 

1. Name where the best granite is found abundantly. 

2. For what class of buildings is it much used ? 

3. What is said of the Granite State ? 

4. How is the granite dressed and usually transported ? 

5. Name the places famed for brown-stone quarries. 

6. For what is it mostly used ? 

7. Where are large deposits of coarse marble found, and how 
used ? 

8. Describe the Lockport gray limestone. 

9. Why is it used for building purposes and ornamentation ? 

10. Where are many quarries of drab sandstone ? 

11. Why is it used for trimmings ? 

12. Describe the marble belt of Vermont. Give its characteris- 
tics ? 

13. What is said of the uses to which it is applied ? 

14. Explain how it is sometimes quarried. 

15. Where is black marble found ? 

GYPSUM, SALT, MARL, AND PHOSPHATES, p. GO. 
Sections 103, 104. 

1. Gypsum — where found both coarse and fine ? 

2. Near what springs are whetstones quarried ? 



QUESTIONS. 115 



3. For what other purpose is this stone used ? 

4. Name where kaolin is found. For what purpose used ? 

5. Where is mica obtained in large quantities ? 

6. Name where sand for making glass is found. 

7. Mention the principal places in the Union where salt is ob- 
tained. 

8. Describe the wells in the vicinity of Syracuse, New York. 

9. What is said of the wells in the Saginaw Basin, Michigan ? 

10. State the character of the salt-springs in Kansas, 
n. What facilities has West Virginia for making salt ? 
12. Where else is salt found in abundance ? 

MARL AND PHOSPHATES ; MINERAL SPRINGS, 

p. 62. 

Sections 105 — 109. 

1. The elements of what stone penetrate the soil ? 

2. Describe the marl of New Jersey ; for what crops suitable ? 

3. What are the properties of the marl and phosphates of South 
Carolina ? 

4. What the extent and richness of these beds ? 

5. Remains of what animals are imbedded in these deposits ? 

6. Are there other deposits of marl in the Union ? 

7. What is said of the mineral springs of New England ? 

8. Name the various mineral springs of New York State ; their 
properties. 

9. Give a full account of Saratoga Springs. 

10. Describe the springs of the two Virginias. 

11. What is said of the hot springs of Arkansas ? 

12. Give an account of other medicinal springs. 

HEALTH RESORTS, p. 65. 
Sections no — 114. 

1. What is said of the advantages of health resorts ? 

2. What good effect derived from them incidentally ? 

3. Name the health resorts on the Atlantic slope. 

4. Describe Aiken ; what the characteristics of its climate ? 

5. What is said of the altitude of the village and the balsamic 
odors ? 

6. Describe the location of Asheville, North Carolina ; give its 
altitude. 

7. What is said of its climate ? 

8. State at length the peculiarities of the climate of Florida. 

9. Why is the temperature so equable ? 

10. What are the inducements for invalids to sojourn in Florida ? 

11. Why should invalids seek Minnesota and the adjacent re- 
gion ? 

12. What effect is produced by this dry and cold atmosphere ? 

13. Why is a portion of Colorado a health resort ? 

14. Explain why the climate is dry at certain seasons. 

15. What is said of the sunshine and altitude ? 



n6 QUESTIONS. 



16. How does the climate compare with that of Florida ? 

17. What is said of southern California as a health resort ? 
3 8. Explain how Santa Barbara and vicinity are protected. 

19. Describe the sites for residences. 

20. Give a summary of the advantages of this region as a health 
resort. 

SOIL AND RAINFALL, p. 69. 
Sections 115 — 120. 

1. In what manner should this resource be valued ? 

2. State the geographical position of the United States. 

3. What is said of the soil and its capability of cultivation ? 

4. Explain as to the uniformity and abundance of rain. 

5. Compare the rainfall on the Atlantic slope with that in the 
Mississippi Valley. 

6. Explain the " discrimination." 

7. What is said of the annual average rainfall of Europe ? 

8. Give an account of the rainfall on the Pacific slope. 

9. Explain why the United States is a land of pure springs and 
crystal brooks. 

Sections 121 — 124. 

1. WTiat is said of an ocean-current ? 

2. State the effect of the Gulf Stream on western Europe. 

3. Explain how the vapor off the current benefits the Great 
Valley. 

4. State the theory and the pledges given. 

5. Give an account of the Western prairies and of the burlalo- 
grass. 

6. In what two respects do its roots affect the soil ? 

7. What is said of the rainfall on the one hundredth meridian 
west ? 

8. Explain the change of climate going on and the result. 

9. What is said of irrigation ? in what regions is it used ? 

10. State the effect of the water on the alkali of the soil ? 

n. How does the width of the United States compare with that 
of Asia and Europe combined ? 

12. What advantage does the United States derive from the two 
oceans ? 

13. What is said of dry areas of territory ? 

CLIMATE, p. 7S. 
Sections 125 — 127. 

1. How has the climate of the United States been described ? 

2. Explain the difference of climate between the Atlantic and 
Pacific slopes. 

3. Give a summary of the influences that modify the climate of 
the Great Valley. 

4. W T hat is said of the temperature on the Saskatchewan ? 

5. Compare it with that in certain places in the Union. 



QUESTIONS. 117 



6. Compare the average temperature at Fort Benton with that 
of the places mentioned. 

7. Explain in what ■ way the temperature on the Pacific slope is 
modified. 

8. What is said in respect to flowers blooming at the straits of 
Fuca ? 

9. Name the comparisons between Sitka and Washington, 
Puget Sound and Norfolk. 

10. Why should the Northwest of the United States become 
densely populated ? 

PRODUCTS OF THE SOIL, p. 78. 
Sections 128 — 132. 

1. Explain the character of the soil of the Union. 

2. How do its products compare with other sources of wealth ? 

3. Give a summary and outline of the wheat belt. 

4. Explain fully why a famine is not likely to occur in the 
United States. 

5. What is said of two crops a year ? 

6. Describe the area producing Indian corn. 

7. What countries can we supply with cotton ? 

8. Why is cotton more available as an article of commerce than 
the cereals ? 

9. Where is rice cultivated ? Where sugar-cane ? 

10. What is said of tobacco ? 

11. Give a summary of the minor grains. In what region culti- 
vated ? 

12. Give an account of the vegetables raised, both North and 
South, 

GRASSES, p. 80. 

Sections 133— 135. 

1. Mention the advantages arising from the native grasses of the 
United States. 

2. Name the region in which specially these grasses feed cattle. 

3. What States are prominent for their herds of fine cattle ? 

4. Describe the belt of native and cultivated grasses ; their 
properties. 

5. What are the two principal products of the dairy ? 

6. How do these in value compare with some other products ? 

7. Explain the improvements in manufacturing cheese and butter, 

8. What two classes of animals are raised to advantage ? 

9. In what way is Indian corn utilized ? 

10. Explain the continuous improvements in the qualities of 
domestic animals. 

11. In what class of animals is this specially noticeable ? 

FRUITS, p. 82. 
Sections 136—142. 

1. Name the value of fruits. 

2. Describe the apple-producing belt 



H8 QUESTIONS. 



3. Give a summary of its excellences, and the value of the crop. 

4. What is said of the peach ? Its producing belt ? 

5. Explain how it is preserved to advantage. 

6. Give the value of the crop, and that of the pear. 

7. What is said of the vine and its value ? 

8. In what two sections is wine made in large quantities ? 

9. Give an account of the small fruits cultivated in Florida. 

10. Describe its orange-groves ; their beauty ; the excellence of 
the fruits. 

11. Name the other fruits grown in this State. 

12. What cities are supplied with these fruits ? 

13. Whence do the cities of the Great Valley obtain oranges ? 

14. What is said of the early small fruits of Virginia and Dela- 
ware ? 

15. Name the center of this trade in small fruits. 

16. How is this resource to be reckoned ? 

17. Name the fruits of California. Describe their excellences. 

18. What is said of the olive, the orange, and the English walnut ? 

19. Tell of the success in cultivating the grape, and wine-making. 

20. W T hy does the sugar-beet grow so finely in this State ? 

21. What striking feature is there in the cultivation of fruits ? 

22. Describe the process by which fruits are improved. 

23. What is the estimated value of the fruit crop ? 

FORESTS, p. 87. 
Sections 143 — 145. 

1. Describe the forests of Maine. For what used ? 

2. Give an account of the forests around the White Mountains ; 
also in the Adirondacks and the Catskills. 

3. What is said of the forests extending on both sides of the 
Alleghanies ? 

4. State the value of the pine- forests of the Carolinas and Georgia. 

5. Wherein is the value of the cedars of Florida ? 

6. Give an account of the forests of Michigan, of the Rocky 
Mountains, of the Cascades, and of the Coast Range. 

7. Describe the forests of Oregon, of Washington Territory, and 
of Alaska. 

8. What is said of the efforts to preserve and plant forests ? 

RESOURCES OF FRESH WATERS AND OF THE 
SEA, p. 89. 

Sections 146— 151. 

1. What is stated in relation to the value of the fisheries of the 
Great Lakes ? 

2. Why is ice a necessity ? What blessings does it confer on 
the cities ? 

3. What effect does ice have on food-supplies of fish and meats ? 

4. Name the extent of the ocean laid under contribution for 
food-supplies. 



QUESTIONS. 119 



5. Mention the fisheries of different kinds along the Atlantic 
coast. 

6. What is said of the " shoals " and "banks " ? 

7. State the amount of fish caught in a single year around Nova 
Scotia. 

8. Give an account of the fishing industry of Gloucester, Massa- 
chusetts. 

9. Name the uses to which the menhaden are put. 

10. Explain how their flesh has been utilized. 

11. Describe the fishery at the mouth of the Chowan, and the 
result. 

12. Give the result of fish-culture. To what is it likely to lead ? 

OYSTERS, p. 93. 

Sections 152 — 155. 

1. Describe the great storehouse of oysters in Chesapeake Bay. 

2. Explain how they are transported and where planted. 

3. What the value of this trade in New York City ? 

4. State the amount of oysters brought yearly from the Bay to 
Fair Haven. 

5. Explain how oysters are put up for use. 

6. What two cities on the Chesapeake are extensively engaged 
in this trade ? 

7. Baltimore exports raw oysters to what countries ? 

8. Why is the flavor of the oysters of the Chesapeake so fine ? 

9. What is said of the canning and pickling industry of Balti- 
more ? 

10. State what is said of the clam -beds. Where found ? 

11. Mention the uses of this shell-fish. 

12. Give a summary of what is said of the lobster. 

13. Describe fully the fisheries in Puget Sound, and off the 
straits of Fuca. 

14. What is said of the fish found in the waters along the south- 
ern coast of Alaska ? 

SALMON, FUR-BEARING SEALS, WILD GAME, 
p. 97. 

Sections 156 — 161. 

1. Why do the salmon frequent the Columbia ? 

2. Explain how these fish are caught. 

3. Describe the process of cooking and canning salmon. 

4. Name the amount prepared in different ways for market. 

5. What is said of the demand for these fish thus prepared ? 

6. Where else are salmon found on this coast ? 

7. Give an account of the fur-bearing seals. Where found ? 

8. What are the regulations of the United States Government in 
respect to their capture ? 

9. How many are allowed to be taken yearly ? 

10. Of what birds consist the wild game of the Chesapeake ? 



120 QUESTIONS. 



ii. Describe the habits of this wild game in their haunts. 

12. What is said of the canvas-back as to their food and flavor ? 

13. Where is the principal depot of this traffic ? 

14. Give an account of the migrations of these birds to and from 
the Yukon. 

15. Describe their habits in respect to raising their young. 

16. What is said of their resting-places ? 

HOMESTEAD LAW AND TIMBER ACT, p. 102. 
Sections 162 — 172. 

1. Why give an account of the Homestead Law ? 

2. Give the provisions of the law. 

3. The object of the Timber Act. 

4. What its provisions ? 

5. Give the results of the two laws. 

6. What is said of railway grants ? 

7. What is stated of the school fund ? 

8. State the price of lands inside and outside railway grants. 

9. What is said of the three main railroads ? 

10. What of the shorter roads ? 

11. How and where are homes purchased ? 

12. Character of the settlers ? 

13. What will they gain in the end ? 

14. To whom does the welcome extend ? 

15. Explain why this law is the poor man's friend. 

16. What caution is given ? 



THE END. 



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[see next page.] 



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[see next page.] 



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[see next page.] 



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